Real Estate
by Cynamin
Summary: Co-written by NutMeg. Two interesting dieties decide to interfere in Sunnydale events.
1. Parts 1 - 3

## Real Estate (or "A Unique Fixer-Upper") 

By Cynamin [(cynamin@hotmail.com][1] ) & NutMeg [(leighscott@hotmail.com][2] ) 

Spoilers: Through "Who Am I" 

Disclaimers: Nope, we don't own them.Well, except Cynamin and NutMeg,'cause, well, they're us…sort of.And Kirshana owns herself. She let us include her – thank you dear! 

Notes: The characters of Cynamin and Nutmeg (the characters, not the people)were invented for a massive crossover story we began years ago. If you wantto read what was written, visit 

[http://www.geocities.com/cynandmeg/ic-index.html][3] These characters bear little/no resemblance to the authors. Really.We started this story when I started getting weepy over "I Will Remember You" stuff, got into a silly in character instant messenger conversation, and this was the resulting idea.We have no idea where this story is going to end up – you'll find out as we do.But it will be B/A, we promise!Plus fluff and some good natured Riley-bashing…. 

Distribution: The 3 sites I run, especially Cynamin and NutMeg's home of"Interstellar Conference."[http://www.geocities.com/cynandmeg][4] Anyone else,just ask us.

* * *

_Unique Interdimensional Hideaway _

_Perfect for vacations from reality _

_Expands to fit your needs _

Cynamin, intergalactic, inter-dimensional being of power was crying. 

Cynamin, intergalactic, inter-dimensional being of power, known for her stern disposition and hidden emotions, was crying hard, deep sobs that her sister-goddess couldn't fail to hear. 

Cynamin, intergalactic, inter-dimensional being of power, known for her stern disposition and hidden emotions, was crying hard, deep sobs that her sister-goddess couldn't fail to hear…over a television show. 

This was getting ridiculous. 

NutMeg stood in the doorway, looking at her elder sister cry with a mixture of disgust and sympathy.Sympathy won out, though, and she entered the room quietly.Cynamin heard her and turned, wiping her eyes hastily in an attempt to collect herself.She turned her back on the television as if nothing was wrong. 

"What's going on?" NutMeg asked curiously. 

"Nothing," Cynamin replied, nervously smoothing out her long white skirt."I…was just catching up on some politics." 

NutMeg was about to point out this lie for what it was when the television got to it first."I'll never forget.I'll never forget.I'll never forget."NutMeg couldn't see the screen, but the female voice was full of tears. 

Cynamin got a very odd expression on her face as she fought back tears of her own.She failed, and her clothes changed rapidly in response to her turbulent emotions.*Well, that's it,* NutMeg thought.*That mental control she's so proud of has finally snapped.Serves her right for all the times she's lectured me on it.* 

She didn't say that, though.Instead she sighed."'I Will Remember You' again?" 

_Unique Interdimensional Hideaway _

_Perfect for vacations from reality _

_Some People Take It Too Seriously_

Cynamin nodded, not trusting her voice yet enough to speak. 

NutMeg sighed and shook her head. "I thought we talked about this. HOW can a TV show get to you like that?" she said, handing her normally composed sibling a tissue. 

Cynamin sighed as she took the white square and blew her nose. Would her younger sister ever understand her obsession with the emotions of that one episode? 

NutMeg grinned playfully. "Still gotta crush on the Dark Brooding One?" She ducked as a pillow leaped off the couch and whistled past her head. "I knew it!" she giggled. "Cynnie and Angel! What a couple!" 

Cynamin sputtered for a second, trying to regain her composure after that comment."Well, I...Oh...I would never and you know that!" she finally said defensively. 

NutMeg just laughed at her sister's discomfiture."Take Buffy out of the picture, and you *so* would in a heartbeat!" 

"Yeah, well...maybe," Cynamin said softly, not willing to admit that NutMeg just might be right."But so would you!"She sat down heavily."It's just...don't these writers and such know that they're...creating realities with every story they tell?Would they be so...mean to him...them...if they knew?" 

NutMeg sat down next to her. "I....I've got no clue. Mortals can be pretty mean to the things they KNOW they've created. Some of them anyway." 

Cynamin blinked, startled at the semi-serious speech that had just come out of her never-serious sibling. It was true, lots of mortals were mean to their own children, and to pets they had CHOSEN to adopt. There was no way they could know about the realities they were creating. "We have to DO something about it!" she stated, a tear gleaming in one eye. "It's our duty!" 

"What, to go around messing with people's lives?" NutMeg looked a bit taken aback by Cynamin's less-that-responsible comment. 

"Don't you think some things are meant to be?" Cynamin asked in an almost dreamy tone of voice. 

*That's it, she has totally lost her mind this time...*NutMeg looked at her seriously.This was a strange reversal of roles."Don't you remember how much trouble we got into last time we meddled in the various realities?We almost got grounded for eternal life." 

Cynamin looked back at her, startled."This is different," she tried to explain. 

"How so?" 

"We wouldn't be causing the trouble.We'd be fixing it." 

*Fixing It? And likely getting ourselves in a fix!* NutMeg thought. But then, when had she ever been one to keep out of mischief? Or stand in the way of true mush? "What's in it for me?" she asked. 

Cynamin glared balefully at her. "Is that all you think about? What about true love, chivalry, and helping people?!" 

NutMeg began to laugh. And laugh harder. Soon she was rolling on the floor. "You.." she gasped for air. "Listen to yourself!" 

The usually-more-conservative goddess flushed pink. She sounded just like NutMeg on a normal day! *How embarrassing!* 

The blonde goddess sat up finally, still grinning. "So, what's your plan?" 

Cynamin's face went blank.She was completely off guard...she'd just been talking.Oh, she meant it, but she hadn't thought it through enough for her to actually *plan* anything.Of course she tried not to let that show."Well, we have to get Buffy and Angel back in the same place somehow.And we have to do something about Riley." 

She sounded very certain of herself, but there was no actual plan in that declaration."How are you going to do that?Just walk up to them and say 'hi, you're dating the wrong people, get back together and be happy'?" 

Cynamin frowned."No, that wouldn't work," she agreed."We'll have to be subtle...somehow." 

"Disguises?I always enjoy pretending to be someone else," NutMeg replied quickly, getting into the whole idea now. 

"That works," Cynamin replied, her mouth quirking into a grin. It only lasted a moment, though."There's still one other problem in that comment you made." 

"What?" 

"The 'be happy' part."

* * *

_Sunnydale, California _

_Perfect Place for a little Peace and Quiet _

_The Rumors about Demons are Just That, Honest_

Behind her, she heard music. Or, more appropriately, humming. And the song was driving her crazy as the words ran through her mind...*Don't worry...be happy....* "Xander will you shut up?!" Buffy hissed at the lanky non-college boy behind her. 

Xander shifted his grip on the crossbow she'd loaned him. "Relax, Buff. We haven't seen anything ghouly tonight yet." 

"That's cause your choice of music is scaring them away," the Slayer sighed. 

"And this is a bad thing because?" Xander asked, only being slightly sarcastic. 

Buffy shook her head, and spun around to throw a steak right past his ear. 

"Hey, what?!" 

The vampire behind him turned to dust and floated away on the breeze. 

"Oh, thanks," the dark-haired boy smiled sheepishly. 

"Just keep an eye out," Buffy sighed and walked on through the graveyard. There had been a serious lack of demons, ghouls, and other creepy things going bump (or more accurately...crash, thump, slurp...) in the night lately, and Buffy was bored. She was also unhappy. She was unhappy because she had time to think....and her thoughts always turned to things that weren't shiny happy thoughts. 

Tonight her thoughts drifted back to her date with Riley earlier that evening. They had gone for a drive up into the hills and shared a picnic supper of baloney sandwiches, potato salad, lemonade and Double Stuff Oreo cookies for dessert. It had been Riley's idea to watch the sun set and the stars come out. It was a sweet gesture, really. But Buffy hadn't had the heart to tell him she HATED Baloney and Potato Salad! And the conversation had been rather...mundane. He had avoided the subjects of demons, the Initiative, and her Slaying almost as one might avoid a plague, and stuck to things like the new Psych teacher -who was normal-, the Arlo Guthrey concert coming to town next week, and other innocent topics interspersed with compliments about her hair, eyes, strength. In short, it had been dull! What about all that nice stuff normalcy was supposed to be? Not that their relationship had ended up as normal as she'd hoped either. 

Buffy sighed. What was she going to do? 

/"I don't see a lot of Sunday picnics in the offing.I see skulking in the shadows, hiding from the sun."/ 

Buffy flinched inwardly at the sudden memory.Funny...well, not *funny* exactly...that the long dead mayor could still haunt her in her thoughts.Perhaps it was the recent incidents with Faith that made the mayor's words come to mind.The truth was, though, that it wasn't the fact that the mayor had said those words that made Buffy cringe. It was whom the words were spoken to.He hadn't been talking to her at all. 

But Buffy wasn't going to be thinking about *him* now. No, definitely not. 

"Oof!" Xander exclaimed as he ran into Buffy from behind. "Keep moving!" 

Buffy hadn't even realized she'd stopped. Maybe *he* really was on her mind too much. It wasn't good to be distracted while on patrol. And she had been. Too much so. It was making her head hurt. No, that was a real headache. *Ouch, where'd this come from* Buffy thought, rubbing between her eyes. She was suddenly and inexplicably feeling rather....ill. "Uh...Xander. I don't think we're gonna find anything. Let's head back. You can make that date with Anya after all." 

Xander looked confused, but nodded. Maybe he WOULD have time to get together with Anya. It was only midnight. 

* * *

_The Outskirts of Sunnydale _

_Our tourists tend to decide to live - and die - here _

_Hellmouth sweet Hellmouth_

They could have arrived in the center of town.They could have made a grand entrance.They could have arrived in a flash of light, suddenly materialized...but they didn't.They chose a much more mundane means of travel. 

They walked. 

Neither of them realized just how far they were from blending in.No one walked the more deserted parts of Sunnydale in the middle of the night.Especially not two young women alone dressed in highly visible white.The two sisters, one red-haired, one blond, walking jauntily past the "Welcome to Sunnydale" sign, were a very strange sight. 

If there was anyone around to see them, of course.Which there wasn't. 

"I still don't think we should be wearing WHITE here" NutMeg complained. "We stick out like a cat at an intergalactic mouse convention." 

Cynamin shook her head. "No one's looking. Besides, around here anyone looking even remotely innocent is avoided!" 

"Oh sure," NutMeg replied sarcastically, going into a high pitched 'little-girl' voice. "Hi, we're little angels. DON'T suck our blood, please." She sighed. "SOMEONE will come after us if only to find out what we're doing here. Unless your 'friends' aren't as diligent as you claim." 

But that was exactly what Cynamin WANTED to happen. What better way to find the Slayer and her friends than by being unusual? Besides, if her plan was going properly -as it seemed to be- then Buffy would be at her dorm by now. She'd be easy to find there. 

Somehow, though, at NutMeg's mention of 'blood' the night seemed darker, the shadows more oppressive.*Just your imagination,* Cynamin thought to herself, but it fell flat.*I mean, it's not that I have anything to worry about.Nothing here can hurt us.*They weren't the humans they appeared to be after all. 

A couple of figures detached themselves for the surrounding shadows.For a moment Cynamin smiled in relief, but it was short lived."Uh..." 

"What is it *now?*My feet are killing me." 

"We, umm..." Cynamin looked around, trying to figure out how to get out of this without giving themselves away."I think we drew the wrong kind of attention. 

"Would this be the wrong time to say 'I told you so'?"

* * *

_Los Angeles, California _

_Home of Movie Stars, Rock Stars, and Rogue Demon Hunters _

_Don't say we didn't warn you_

Cordelia Chase glanced at the clock as she entered Angel Investigations. 9:32am... she wasn't THAT late. It wasn't her fault traffic was bad! This was LA for God's sake! And they hadn't exactly gotten much sleep the night before. Not with a coven of witches in town conjuring up spells that were making demons go mad at random. It had taken them a week to track them down, and a long, gruesome battle to get rid of them. 

The dark-haired actress slipped into Angel's private office, expecting to find at LEAST Wesley, maybe Angel with the curtains drawn, working on SOMETHING. Neither one was in sight. 

*Well that's just great. I make the effort to get here CLOSE to on time, and those two are still snoring away,* she thought, fairly disgruntled at the idea. Sighing, she took the elevator down to Angel's apartment. 

She was quite surprised to find both of them there. Not so much that both men were actually AT Angel's apartment...but that they appeared to have thrown an office party without her. Angel was asleep in the armchair and Wesley was sprawled across the couch. The TV was on....Turner Classic Movies of course....and there was an empty bowl with potato chip crumbs in it on the coffee table. Several empty bottles of IBC Root Beer littered the floor and tabletops. With their brown glass they looked extremely like regular beer bottles. 

The fight had taken a lot out of them. Wesley's arm was bandaged and in a sling from having it broken in two places, and he had a Band-Aid across the bridge of his nose. Angel didn't LOOK as injured -not with his super-fast Vamp healing- but Cordelia knew he was exhausted. She had learned to tell, even though he DIDN'T breathe. She had escaped with only a twisted ankle, which twinged as she thought about it. 

Looking at them, passed out and looking for all the world like a silly parody of college boys after a frat party, Cordelia decided to let them sleep and slipped back upstairs. She could be compassionate sometimes after all! 

She had just begun typing up the report of the previous night's events when she felt someone watching her. She looked up and stopped, stunned. 

"Hello," said the dark haired woman in the strange medieval-looking black garment. "I'm looking for Angel." 

* * *

**Part Two **

_The Road into Sunnydale _

_Demons make up a large part of our tourist population _

_And you wonder why the houses are so cheap?_

The vampires approached stealthily, but they were in the open now.NutMeg was *not* happy with this situation.Fixing up torn romances was one thing.Fighting vampires?Definitely not what she's signed up for.She clutched a piece of sharpened wood in one hand and waited for the vampires to advance. 

Cynamin stood calmly, her hands at her sides...but inside she was panicking.This wasn't what she'd had in mind, either.Still, the vampires couldn't hurt them. 

Right? 

With that thought came a realization - maybe the vampires couldn't hurt them, but they could certainly hurt the vampires.No weapons needed, either.Just a little flexing of power, and... 

Nothing happened. 

"NutMeg?" 

"What?!" her sister snapped, clutching the stake so hard her knuckles were white. 

"I just tried to...teleport the vampires...and it didn't work." 

NutMeg cursed in some alien language. 

Cynamin's eyebrows went up, but this wasn't the time to scold her on that."We're not alone here.One of our family must be involved - we can't go up directly against one of our own."She was tempted to curse as well. 

NutMeg sighed."I'll give you two guesses as to who it is." 

"I don't need two guesses.One will suffice."The vampires were less than ten meters away now."Seeing as how we can't fight them, running would be good." 

So they ran.The vampires gave chase for a while, intent that these would be easy prey.The sisters were agile, and with a bit of thought managed to cloak their appearance.They didn't stop running, though, even when they no longer heard any pursuit. 

They didn't stop running until something stopped them. 

Someone.In army gear."Are you two alright?" 

Cynamin groaned inwardly.Out of the entire population of Sunnydale, why did it have to be 'I've-killed-17-hostiles' Riley Finn? 

NutMeg grinned. Perfect! Who better to help them get to Buffy than her current...and soon to be ex if she and Cynamin did this right...boyfriend?! The ironic twist was too amusing. She put on her best innocent-little-woman-in-trouble face, which worked well with her traditional blond curls and deep blue eyes, and -jumping into character- grabbed his arm. "Some--THINGS are behind us!" She gasped vacuously. "They had funny-looking faces and ratty clothes." She glanced over her shoulder the way they had come, as if in fear, but really so she could make eye contact with her sister. She glared at her and mouthed *Play along.* 

Cynamin glared back at her.She was fuming inside, but couldn't say anything without making a scene or ruining what disguise they had.So she sighed, put on her best valley girl impression, and ... played along. 

Riley looked with a smile at the two girls frightened and out of breath in front of him and smiled reassuringly."No one's there now.It was probably just some local gang.They sometimes put on masks to scare people." 

It was hard for Cynamin to stay in character.*Just a gang.Sure.Whatever you say.*Instead she smiled and let out an exaggerated sigh of relief."Well, it worked, she said."I've never been so terrified in my life." 

NutMeg nodded along."Thank you so much...uh..." 

"Riley." 

"Right, Riley."She put on her best flirtatious smile."Say, you look like you could maybe help us get where we're going.See, we just got into town, and we'd *hate* to run into another of those gangs." 

Riley smiled."Where are you going?" 

He seemed to have forgotten Cynamin was there, what with being NutMeg's hero.Silently Cynamin praised this turn of events.*Sister, I'll have to thank you later.*"Stevenson Hall," she spoke up."I have an old friend who goes to U.C. Sunnydale."She thought quickly."Willow Rosenberg." 

Riley blinked. "Really? Where do you know her from?" 

NutMeg thought quickly..."Summer camp! We were in the same cabin." 

"Aha. I'm sorry," the blond guy in military get-up said, "I didn't get your names." 

"Oh," NutMeg almost lost the adoring smile on her face. "I'm...Nu-alisha Winters." 

"Nalisha?" Riley said, obviously making sure he'd pronounced it right. 

"Uh..yeah." *I can't believe he didn't catch that!* NutMeg thought as she simpered up at him. 

"Very pretty," he smiled back. "And you...miss?" he looked at Cynamin. 

Cynamin stared back and forth between Riley - looking at her expectantly, and NutMeg - trying to urge her on with her eyes.She looked back at Riley again, smiled vacantly, and replied, "Sylvana." 

Riley nodded at that."Nice to meet you both."He began to lead them into the heart of Sunnydale. 

NutMeg elbowed Cynamin sharply."Sylvana?" she asked under her breath."You just came up with that on the spot?" 

"Umm, no," Cynamin whispered."Ginger called me that once.I don't know why.But I like the name." 

"Huh.She always was partial to names other than the ones our parents gave us.Figures." NutMeg sighed and moved back up to stand next to Riley. "So what do you do? Are you military?" *Not like it isn't painfully obvious in the camo.* 

The semi-good looking blond smiled. "Uh, yeah. I'm army." 

*Which doesn't explain why you're in uniform in the middle of the night running around in the dark. BOY are you stupid!* "That's so cool! You must be very brave," she gushed. "So, how do YOU know Willow?" 

Riley's slightly mushy smile made her want to gag. "I'm dating her roommate." 

"Really?" NutMeg pretended to look disappointed, glanced back over her shoulder and made a gagging face in Cynamin's direction. Her sister covered her mouth to hide her chuckles. "That's nice." She moved a little closer to him. She could tell he was responding to her closeness, even if he was trying to deny it within himself. She was a goddess, she could tell these things. *If only Buffy could see how he's responding....* She wondered what Cynamin was thinking. 

Cynamin was both pleased and dismayed.Pleased that riley was so quickly falling into a position where they could justly undo his relationship with Buffy, dismayed that it was so easy.*Does Buffy have /any/ clue what a looser she's dating?* 

Now if only it was as easy to bring relationships together as it was to tear them apart. 

* * *

_Downtown Los Angeles _

_Home to the starving artists of the US _

_The city of angels...and devils_

Angel moaned as he awoke, sure that his entire body was going to break at any moment. Fighting witches was completely different from fighting demons. It left anything with an element of demon with a deep-seated exhaustion, caused by the magic used against them. Witch spells cast against a demon would also retard their healing abilities. In other words, Angel was in serious pain. 

When they had gotten back and Cordelia had left, Wesley had obviously been far too exhausted, and injured, to make it home on his own, so Angel had invited him to stay. While both men could have used a good stiff shot - or three - of something seriously alcoholic, the only things in Angel's apartment had been some chips and a *lot* of root beer. The carbonation, caffeine, and about a quart of blood- Angel's choice, not Wesley's - had been enough to make the exhausted vampire *feel* like he'd been drinking a good malt whiskey.

Stretching stiffly, Angel yawned, opened his eyes--and nearly fell out of the chair at the sight of the dark-goddess standing above him with a predatory gleam in her eye. He was startled that he hadn't felt the presence of such a strong magic user the moment she had entered."Who are you?" he asked. 

The goddess chuckled darkly and sat down on the foot stool. "Is it really that important? Very well, I am called Kirshana." 

"What do you want?" Angel wriggled into a more upright position, glad he had only removed his shirt before crashing in the chair the night -well, early morning- before. 

"Cordelia let me in," the dark haired goddess said matter-of-factly."Actually, she didn't *let* me in.I'm not sure if she'll remember that she saw me at all.It's been a while since I performed that particular trick." 

Angel did not move from his seat, even though he wanted to get away from this strange...being.She made him feel decidedly uncomfortable, and he had the horrible feeling that her visit forebode terrible events to come.And what had she done to Cordelia?"You're not...human.Or demon," he said with certainly. 

She did not reply.Kirshana looked at him, gazing up and down and staring at his chest for a moment.She smiled, and Angel cringed inwardly."I can see why she's so taken with you," she said."Of course, she'd never admit as much.She's...much too prissy." 

*She who?* Angel thought. *She can't mean Cordelia...and Buffy's not 'prissy.'* The vampire was utterly confused. *I should definitely find some good whiskey when I get out of this,* he sighed. "Just WHO are you referring to? Some of us can't read minds you know." 

Kirshana smiled, flashing perfectly white teeth that, while not pointed, somehow made the vampire just as uneasy as he might have if she were. 

Angel had a feeling a stake through the heart or banishment spell would do no good here. 

Suddenly the woman laughed, but where some laughs could warm an entire room, this one was somehow cold."Who am I?What do I want?What am I?Who am I talking about?You're just full of questions, aren't you?" 

"Well, it would be polite to answer, considering you did enter my home and woke me up," Angel replied a tad belligerently. 

"And you know all about politeness, don't you?" she said, smiling indulgently."Alright, I'll...answer your questions." 

Somehow, that didn't make Angel feel any better. 

"My name, as I said, is Kirshana," the woman began, sitting in the chair across from him."I am...a goddess.At least, that is the closest word you would understand.As for what I want, I was just checking on you...seeing how my work was going." 

This situation seemed to be getting worse by the second."Your...work?" 

"You're fascinating, I must admit, if a bit pathetic," the goddess said."All this moping around in the dark when there is so much else you could be doing.It caught my sister's - yes, that's who I was referring to before - eye as well.And she went and roped in our youngest sister into *her* plan, which I must say has made this *much* more interesting." 

"Plan?"Being a pawn between three goddesses could *not* be a good thing. 

"Oh, don't worry, Angel. We won't harm you.We just want you to be...happy."Seeing Angel cringe, she laughed very lightly."You have nothing to fear from me.After all, I've already been around for months.I can't say the same for them, though. 

"You see, we have different ideas...plans for you.So, yes, I was checking on you.And passing on this warning." 

"Oh?" Angel asked, trying to mask how this whole situation made him nervous. 

"Avoid my sisters, Angel.Stay away from Sunnydale." 

* * *

**Part Three**

_U.C.Sunnydale  
Institution of Higher Learning and Way-lower Government Work  
The men in Camoflage are just a figment of the school food_  
  
NutMeg was about ready to strangle Riley by the time they got to the University campus. She had gotten him talking about home in Iowa, and he just went ON and ON....  
  
Cynamin would have been thinking the same thing, but she was too busy coming up with a plan for when they got to the dorm and Riley found out that neither Willow nor Buffy knew them.  
  
Sighing, NutMeg -Nalisha?- glanced back at Cynamin, and came to the same realization her sibling had. She grinned back at her sister, and with a quick thought and a bit of goddess-powered magic, put her plan into action.

* * *

_Stevenson Hall,  
Home to cheerleaders, basketball stars, and Slayers  
We love new students!_  
  
Willow sat crosslegged on her bed intently reading a passage out of an old book she had found on Giles' bookshelves. It was an ancient text about goddess-magic and helping spells. An odd combination, or so the red-head thought. She took a sip of the strawberry-banana snapple on the bedside table and flipped the page.  
  
There was something completely different on the other side. It appeared to be a prophesy.....but addressed to someone specific. It read: *When appears two, one gold, one red, accompanied by green, remember friends from long ago, whom you have never seen. Worry not, oh budding witch, for help we hope to give. Just a chance is all we ask, and one who's dead might live.*  
  
Willow was thoroughly confused. Gold and Red and Green? One who's dead might live? Well, SHE was a "budding witch." Did it mean ANY new witch? Or one specifically? One who's dead. Demons were dead...sort of. Vampires were dead. Angel? Could these two whatevers make Angel alive again?! "Nah, it'll never happen," she sighed. No use getting hopes up over an obscure looking prophesy. Of course, it LOOKED new, the words were less faded than the rest, and in a more modern script. *Remember friends from long ago, whom you have never seen?* What did it mean by THAT cryptic remark?  
  
The door opened and Willow jumped, jolted out of her thoughts. she relaxed again though, when she saw that it was Buffy in the doorway. She'd almost been expecting...she didn't know who she was expecting. Gold, red, and green perhaps? *I'm letting this book get to me.* "Hey, Buffy. How was patrol?"  
  
Buffy muttered something unintelligible and flopped down on her bed.  
  
"Are you okay?"  
  
Buffy looked at her roommate, her brow creased with pain. "I just have a headache, Will," she said. The phone rang then, and Buffy winced.  
  
Willow smiled apologetically and answered the phone before it could ring again. "Hello?"  
  
"Hey, Willow. It's Riley."  
  
"Oh, Riley!" Buffy began frantically mouthing no. "Buffy's not feeling well," she began to explain.  
  
"Actually, I'm not here to visit. I was just walking some friends of yours who just got into town. Care to come let them into the dorm?"  
  
Willow glanced at Buffy, who was lying face down in her pillow. What friends? She had the strangest feeling something WEIRD was going on. "Who are they?" she asked, out of curiosity if nothing else. "I wasn't expecting anyone."  
  
"Nalisha Winters and Sylvana..." Riley's said, sounding a little confused. "From summer camp."  
  
*Summer camp? I was five the last time I went to a camp!* The witch thought. But there was that NAGGING feeling that she should do something. So she made her voice sound sincere as she said "Oh! Great! It's been forever! I'll be right down."  
  
Outside Cynamin and NutMeg could barely hear Willow's voice through the outside phone. They looked at each other. She thought she knew them?  
  
NutMeg grinned. *She must have read the prophesy I planted.*  
  
Upstairs Willow pulled on shoes and headed for the door "Buffy, we're gonna have company."  
  
"Unnnggh? What?" The Slayer looked up through a mask of golden ringlets. "Guests? Who?"  
  
"Umm...an old friend of mine," Willow hated lying, but she had the feeling these people were safe. "And her friend."  
  
"Oh, okay," Buffy nodded and dropped her head back on the pillow.  
  
Willow quickly headed downstairs, around the corner, and down the hall to the doors. She nearly froze when she saw who was standing there. *Ohmygosh! Gold, Red, and Green.*  
  
Willow's eyes went very wide. "It's great to see you!" she said, entirely for Riley's benifit. "Thanks, Riley, for getting them here. You know...Sunnydale, night...."  
  
Riley nodded. "They had some trouble."  
  
"Oh?" Willow put the sound of slight worry in her voice.  
  
"A rather blood-thirsty gang on the edge of town," Riley replied.  
  
"Ah, Thanks," she replied. She turned to the two...women. She could practically TOUCH the magic coming from them. "Come on in." Riley started to follow. "Ummm...Riley. Now's not a good time. Buffy's got a headache and..."  
  
The blonde male frowned worried. "Is she alright?"  
  
"She'll be fine," Willow assured him. *He can NOT be here for...whatever's about to happen!* "I'll have her call you when she feels better."  
  
"Oh...okay. Ladies," he nodded at the two beautiful women he had just met, and headed back to the house.  
  
Left alone with the two women, Willow led them upstairs. As they entered she glanced at Buffy's bed. The slayer was asleep. Turning to her *old friends whom you have never seen* she said quietly. "Can I get you anything?"  
  
Cynamin shook her head, but NutMeg smiled. "Sure, do you have any iced tea?"  
  
"Um, I don't think..." Willow was speechless when she opened the fridge. Starting back at her was never-before-seen bottle of AriZona Iced Tea. She closed the fridge, handed Nalisha the tea and said. "Who are you? And what are you doing here?"  
  
NutMeg and Cynamin looked back and forth at each other for a moment, debating what to tell her. How mush breaking of the rules would be too much? Still, they'd already gotten Willow's attention as being...unusual and unexpected. Perhaps if they got her to trust them, working with everyone else would be easier.  
  
"Do you believe in parallel realities?" Cynamin asked just as softly.  
  
Willow nodded, remembering her own vampire evil twin. "Yes, I do."  
  
"Don't you remember?" NutMeg asked Cynamin with enthusiasm. "That was one of my favorite...." Willow and Cynamin were staring at her, Willow in confusion, Cynamin in warning. "Yeah, right. Uh...we're from a parallel reality....sort of?"  
  
Cynamin sighed. It was going to be a LONG night.

* * *

_Angel Investigations  
Los Angeles, California  
Doesn't every business come with an entrance to the sewers?_  
  
Angel sat in silence in the darkness of his apartment long after the strange goddess had disappeared. Not left, *disappeared.* One moment she was there, and the next she wasn't, as if she had never been there at all. Angel knew she'd been there though, and her parting warning echoed in his mind.  
  
Staying away from Sunnydale was not really a problem. He hadn't been planning on returning anytime soon. Not after the *last* time. But Kirshana's warning about her sisters made him think not of his own danger, but danger to...others.  
  
He dialed the phone almost without thinking about it.  
  
"Giles? It's Angel...."

* * *

_Stevenson Hall  
For the truly unique dormitory experience  
Just try not to interrupt the spells being cast in the bathroom_  
  
"So you must understand," Cynamin said at length, "that you can not tell Buffy about any of this. Or about who we are. Not until we know what it is we are going to do."  
  
Willow looked back and forth between the two sisters. "This has something to do with Angel, doesn't it?"  
  
Cynamin started in surprise. "Why do you think that?"  
  
"It's...this prophecy I found. It...seemed to pretty clearly be talking about your arrival. And there was this line, 'one who's dead might live.' That does refer to Angel, doesn't it?"  
  
Cynamin's eyes went very wide, then she turned to look at her sister. NutMeg just grinned slightly with a shrug.  
  
Cynamin sighed. "I really can't say anymore right now. We must go. We shall speak to you again tomorrow?"  
  
"Of course," Willow agreed. She stood then and, slightly dazed from everything she had learned, opened the door for the two helpful goddesses.  
  
Just when she was out the door, NutMeg turned around again. "Hey," she said to Willow. "Give this to Buffy. It just might make her feel better." With that she presented the witch with a container of cookie-dough-fudge-mint-chip ice cream and hurried down the hall to catch up with her sister.

* * *

_Giles' apartment  
Fully furnished with library  
hope you read Demon!_  
  
"So what did this...being...tell him?" Buffy asked Giles. The Scooby Gang was once again gathered in the former Watcher's house for one of their regular emergency meetings. Xander and Anya were cuddled on the couch, Giles stood leaning against the doorjamb between the living room and the kitchen, and Willow was on her way.  
  
"This *goddess* warned him to stay away from Sunnydale and to avoid her sisters," the Brit replied.  
  
"And he believed she was a goddess?"  
  
"Apparently," Giles responded. "He could sense her power."  
  
"Oh," the Slayer began pacing. "So these Sisters could hurt Angel? Are they coming to Sunnydale? Can we stop them? HOW do we stop them!"  
  
"Now, Calm down, Buffy," Giles cut her off. "I'm sure we'll come up with something."  
  
"Yeah, Relax, Buff," Xander grinned. "The Scooby Gang is on the case. We defeated the mayor, SURE we can stop two little goddesses."  
  
Buffy smiled at his sort-of-comforting words. The door slammed and she turned to look as Willow entered the house, followed by two unfamiliar women. Her smile faded. "Hey, Will."  
  
"Hi, everybody," Willow smiled, suddenly nervous at the stunned glares she was receiving. "What's wrong? Oh, this is Nalisha and Sylvana. Two...umm...old friends of mine."  
  
Buffy's Slayer senses were screaming something else. Those were NOT two ordinary girls. "Will, can we talk...ALONE?" She grabbed her friend by the hand and dragged her past Giles and halfway up the stairs where no one could see or hear. "Do you have any idea who those two girls are?!"  
  
Willow looked confused. "Of course I do, I just TOLD you..."  
  
"They're goddesses, Will. Or something. Angel was visited by one of them...a different one. And she warned him to stay away from her sisters." Buffy whispered frantically.  
  
"No, they're here to HELP Angel," Willow replied. She should have known things wouldn't be so easy. "They said--"  
  
"They said...and you believe them?" Buffy was incredulous. "How can you be sure? They could be planning something awful."  
  
"And how do you know the one that visited Angel was right?" The red-head shot back. "She could have been some evil-goddess or something like that who wants him to be suspicious!" She nodded her head. "That's it. Maybe SHE'S the bad one."  
  
"And you don't think Angel can tell the difference?" Buffy nearly shouted.  
  
"And *I* can't?" Willow glared at her, obviously hurt. "I can feel their magic...though it's different from the kind of spells I can do. Besides, they KNOW things."  
  
"Like what?" Buffy asked, still not believing that her friend couldn't tell what was going on.  
  
"Well, there was the prophesy in the book I was reading. I can show it to you. And the ice cream...they knew your favorite. And they knew about you and Angel, and about me and Oz, and the fight with the mayor, and..."  
  
"Enough," Buffy cut her off with a sigh. "We have to find out what's really going on. Let's go meet these "friends" of yours."  
  
Willow nodded and they both headed back downstairs. They were stopped short by the sight before them of the two goddess-magic-beings-whatever-they-were chatting with Giles, Xander, and Anya.  
  
Anya glanced up as they entered. "Hey! You didn't tell me you had such great friends! I've known these two since I was a beginner revenge demon!"  
  
Buffy and Willow glanced at each other. Buffy shrugged. "Who knew?"  
  
Of the two odd 'friends' of Willow's, the red haired woman paled at this comment and sighed in dismay. The blond one on the other hand grinned broadly and chuckled. "So much for disguises, huh?"  
  
Anya looked at her oddly. "You're supposed to be in disguise?"  
  
"Apparently not very good ones," Xander muttered.  
  
Buffy looked at the two girls seriously. They appeared normal enough, but the sense she got coming from them was one of enormous power. She didn't get any sense of ill will from them, but you could never tell.... "I assume you are the sisters Angel was speaking of?"  
  
NutMeg glanced at Cynamin. There was nothing really left to hide as to who they were, was there? When her older sibling nodded she smiled at Buffy. "That would be us. The "dark-goddess" he's referring to is actually our sister, Kirshana. Well, actually Ginger, but she hates it so she goes by Kirshana..."  
  
"And she's a bit of a troublemaker," Cynamin cut off her rambling sister. "This isn't the first time she's caused us problems."  
  
"And the other times WERE?" Xander asked.  
  
Cynamin thought mentioning the other-worlds they'd been to -and times- would not be the best idea. "Other times when we've tried to help people."  
  
"But whose side were you ON?" the non-college boy wanted to know.  
  
"The forces of good and truth of course!" NutMeg piped up. "There's nothing more fun than kicking baddy-butt!"  
  
*Baddy-butt?!* Cynamin sighed inside her head. But the enthusiasm seemed to do the trick. The group began to loose their tense feeling.  
  
Buffy seemed to think for a moment, then nodded. "Right then. Let's get to work on a plan."

* * *

_Frat Row  
Land of Greeks who think Homer is one of the Simpsons  
After Dark: Wild Parties and Weird Happenings_  
  
Riley was just crawling into bed when there was a knock on his door. *What's Buffy doing here so late?* he wondered...then grinned. "Come on in."  
  
The beautiful woman who entered...wasn't Buffy. She was a little taller than Buffy, darker skin, soft black hair, deep dark eyes, and dressed in black denim pants, black, heeled boots, and an amazingly complex cut blouse that was really an extremely dark purple.  
  
"Who--"  
  
The woman raised her hand, and suddenly his tongue stuck in his mouth. "I don't have time to chat," she smirked. "I'm here to tell you that Buffy's in danger."  
  
Riley's eyes widened. *From what?*  
  
"My two evil sisters are here to destroy her," the woman continued, as if hearing his thoughts. "They are here already. And YOU'RE the one who led them to her.  
  
He nearly chocked. *Those two innocent girls?*  
  
The dark-enchantress laughed. "Innocent! That's a laugh. They're dangerous. How could you not realize that they're HOSTILES?!"  
  
Riley felt faint. He was in serious trouble now. He HAD to get to Buffy.  
  
The woman leaned down in front of him and held his eyes with a glare. "You WILL protect Buffy from the evil-goddesses at all costs." It was a statement. A command. Riley felt his brain go fuzzy.  
  
*I will protect Buffy from the evil-goddesses at all costs.*  
  
"Good," the beautiful creature smiled devilishly. "Now go to bed, and in the morning all you will remember is my command. You will forget I came here, and that I even exist."  
  
Riley nodded, rolled over, and fell asleep.  
  
As Kirshana walked out of the frat house she smiled at Forrest and the other boys, whose eyes followed her jealously. Wishing she had come to visit them and not Riley. Tomorrow, they would remember nothing. Only a dream of a beautiful woman. And each would look different.  
  
Outside she chuckled to herself. *This is turning out to be more fun than I thought.*

   [1]: mailto:(cynamin@hotmail.com
   [2]: mailto:(leighscott@hotmail.com
   [3]: http://www.geocities.com/cynandmeg/ic-index.html
   [4]: http://www.geocities.com/cynandmeg



	2. Parts 4 - 6

## Real Estate (Or, 'A Unique Fixer Upper')

By Cynamin & NutMeg

Disclaimer: We own no one but ourselves. Got that?

**Part Four**

_Angel Investigations  
On call day and night for all your demon problems  
Nights are always better_  
  
"Angel Investigations. We help the hopeless."  
  
There was a long pause on the other end of the phone line. Cordelia rolled her eyes, ready to hang up. "Hello?"  
  
When there was no answer, Cordelia went to put the phone down. she almost missed the voice on the other end. "Cordelia?"  
  
"Buffy?" Cordelia asked in surprise. She glanced around, glad to see that Angel had not yet come upstairs. "What do you want?"  
  
"I...I need to talk to Angel."  
  
Cordelia was instantly wary. "Why?"  
  
Buffy sighed. "It's...call it a business call, Cordelia. It's about the visitor Angel had."  
  
"Are you going to be nice? Is he not going to be moping around the office for the next week after he talks to you?"  
  
"Well..." There wasn't much Buffy could say to that, and she knew it. "I *need* to talk to him. It's important."  
  
Cordelia was considering telling her that Angel was busy and hanging up. After all, no good could come of this. Still...  
  
The decision was taken from her, though. Appearing next to her desk, Angel spoke softly. "Who's on the phone?"  
  
Cordelia sighed and handed it over without a word, not trusting herself to speak, and having the feeling that he *needed* to take this call.  
  
Angel took it, a little confused, and with more than a little apprehension. "Hello?"  
  
"Angel..." an achingly familiar female voice came over the line. "It's me."  
  
Angel felt his heart seize up -well, it was more of a phantom pain- at the sound. "Buffy." Why was she calling? He realized she was waiting for him to say something. "It's uh...what's wrong?" *Smooth move Mr. Articulate.*  
  
"It's about the visitor you had," the Slayer replied. "And her warning."  
  
"Oh, God. Is everyone okay? Have you met her sisters? What's going on!"  
  
"Relax, Angel," Buffy cut him off sharply, but she sounded a little pleased that he was concerned. Then again, he could have been imagining that part. "That's why I'm calling. We've met them. Willow and Anya both say they check out okay."  
  
"Anya?" Angel was incredulous. "What would she know about them?"  
  
"Apparently they were friends at some point. That's not the point though. It's that their OTHER sister, the one who told you to stay away, is the dangerous one," Buffy explained. "She has apparently done this kind of stuff before. Causing mischief where she doesn't belong. Meddling in people's lives. Be careful, there's no telling what she might do."  
  
Angel could hardly believe what he was hearing. But it made a certain kind of sense. The way she appeared suddenly, mysteriously. Her pleasure in making him uncomfortable. That…goddess...was certainly trouble. But then, could this be one of her tricks too? Something told him he was just being paranoid. He didn't like being dropped in on in his boxers. Unless, of course, that visitor were Buffy. He sighed. "Thanks for the warning. We'll be on the lookout. Is there anything we can do to help?"  
  
There was a significant pause on the other end of the phone line. "No," she said briefly. "Just...be careful, okay?" Then the phone line clicked off without even a goodbye.

* * *

_Giles' Apartment  
Perfect for meeting to save the world  
Vampires not invited_  
  
Buffy hung up the phone, her hand shaking slightly. She tried to hide it, but Willow noticed.  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
Buffy turned away from the phone and chewed her lip slightly. "I don't know if he believed me," she said after a moment.  
  
Willow was about to reassure her when a clatter sounded loudly in the quiet room. The red haired goddess was walking quickly from the house, her chair having fallen over in her haste to get up. She was paler than usual, and then she was out the door and gone. Her sister looked back and forth at the other people in the extremely silent room. She stood abruptly and followed.  
  
The apartment was dead silent in their wake. Seeing two immortal, powerfull beings that disturbed about anything could not be good. "I'll...see what's going on," Willow offered. No one made a comment as she went to leave the apartment as well.  
  
Everyone heard Cynamin's scream when Willow opened the door, though. "It was supposed to be easier than this!" she cried.  
  
Willow hastily shut the door behind her. Neither goddess registered her presence. Cynamin was pacing, clearly agitated, her sister watching her worriedly.  
  
"It was supposed to be..." Cynamin was saying. "You know, come in, get them together, fix that eancy weency curse problem, and poof! Everything solved, happily ever after!" she nearly yelled. "How are they supposed to live happily ever after, though, if they won't even come to the same town!" 

Willow gasped audibly, and backed up against the wall, as if to avoid being noticed. *They want Buffy and Angel together? Why? Oh wow!* 

NutMeg was comforting her sister. "Come on, it'll happen. Some things can't be stopped. This is one of them! So what if our troublesome sib thinks she can out smart us?" 

"But she IS outsmarting us!" Cynamin snapped. "She doesn't even LIKE this world!" 

Willow listened eagerly. *This WORLD?* 

"I know. So she can't know EVERYTHING about it," the blonde goddess reasoned. "We just have to guess what she'll throw at us next." 

Cynamin seemed to relax, her pacing suddenly ceased, and she slumped slightly."Guess what she'll throw at us next, huh?You make it sound so easy." 

"Of course it's easy!She wants to cause trouble for us.What would you do if you wanted to cause trouble for us?" 

Cynamin thought for a moment."Well, she's already ruined our trustworthiness with Angel," she said reluctantly."I guess...the next step would be to destroy what trust we've built here." 

"So, we'll keep our eyes out," NutMeg said, trying to reassure her."What else can we do?" 

Willow quietly went back inside, wondering what she'd heard meant...and fearing the answers. 

* * *

_Angel Investigations _

_Sunny Dispositions, Dark Interior _

_Some form of payment preferable _

Angel set down the phone and abruptly turned away from Cordelia's asking eyes, going into his office and shutting the door. Why couldn't life be simple? Just once! One week it was demons...the next three goddesses running around in Southern California. And to top it all off he had no idea which ones were to be trusted. Of course, his gut instincts told him he should trust Buffy when she said that the two Anya had vouched for were on their side. But then, Anya *had* been a revenge demon. 

"Okay, Mr. Broody. What did she say to you this time?" 

Angel looked up at Cordelia, who stood back-lit in the doorway.He sighed slightly.For a guy that didn't breath he seemed to do that an awful lot."She...had news about the visitor we had." 

"That's it?" Cordelia asked."Not even a 'hi, how are you?'" 

Angel flinched slightly."It was...just a business call, Cordelia." 

"And people say *I'm* rude," Cordelia replied.At Angel's glare, she changed the subject quickly."So, what about the really weird one in the outfit that screamed 'I haven't read a fashion magazine in 200 years'?" Cordelia asked lightly. 

Angel smiled very slightly at that.Same old Cordelia."That would be the one," he agreed."It seems the sisters she warned about have shown up in Sunnydale.They're not a problem apparently, though.They warned about *their* sister - our guest.And...Anya knows them.She vouched for them." 

Cordelia laughed."Well, that's a rousing endorsement," she said sarcastically.At Angel's continued pensive look her amusement faded."What are you going to do?" 

Angel didn't answer immediately, mostly because he had no answer to give. What *was* he going to do? "Cordelia, which would you trust more, your instincts or your mind?" 

She looked a little startled at the question. But then, Cordelia's idea of instincts was the primal need to shop. "It would depend on the problem," she replied. 

"If your instincts said to trust people you've always trusted, but your mind says that everyone can be tricked." 

Cordelia laughed slightly, trying to lighten the mood. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, gloom-and-doom. That sounds like you being super-skeptical again." 

Angel couldn't help but smile at his friend's honest statement. "That's true. I guess the best thing to do now is wait. If we don't do anything right away, *someone* or some*thing* will have to make a push to forward their plans. We can wait and see which goddesses do what. I expect we'll get another visit from Her Darkness." 

"Oh great," Cordelia groaned. "She gave me the creeps." 

Angel looked up sharply. "Really?" 

Cordelia nodded. "Yeah. She was way-out-there freaky." 

*Trust to instincts* the thought came unbidden from the Vampire's mind. "Then maybe we already have our answer." 

Cordelia looked confused. "What are you talking about?" 

"She gave me the creeps, too," Angel replied."And while I'm doubtful of Anya's endorsement, Willow also said they were okay apparently." 

"Then what's that problem?" Cordelia asked, sounding slightly exasperated with him. 

Angel leaned back, trying to figure out why exactly this situation still bothered him."We had one goddess come here and warn against going to Sunnydale.Specifically, she warned me about her sisters.Then these sisters show up in Sunnydale, and they give the opposite warning.I'm not sure who to trust." 

"Then trust your friends," Cordelia said as if it was the simplest solution in the world."What?The dark lady gave both of us the creeps.The other two have apparently gained everyone else's trust.As much as I don't like her personally, Buffy is the Slayer.She's usually pretty good at figuring out who's trustworthy." 

Angel smiled slightly."Yeah, you're right," he agreed. 

Cordelia grinned at him and went to leave him alone once again.Part way out the door she turned around."Angel?" 

"Hmm?" 

"Did you say our visitor warned you not to go to Sunnydale?" 

"Yeah, she did," Angel affirmed."Why?" 

Cordelia was perplexed."Why warn you?I mean, you weren't *planning* on going to Sunnydale.Were you?" 

Angel looked up at Cordelia with a look she might have described as having an epiphany if she had only studied the SAT vocabulary. "Maybe we should make a trip to Sunnydale. I, for one, don't like being left in the dark." 

"Really?" Cordelia chuckled. "I thought that was what you liked best." 

"Cordelia," the Vampire warned. "Call Wesley. I need to talk to him." 

"Yes, sir," she gave him a mock salute and a grin. "Just promise me you won't do anything to go all evil on us again, okay?" 

Angel gave her a stare she immediately translated as *don't go there.* She nodded and picked up the phone. 

* * *

_Lowell House _

_Good friends, good parties, lots of fun. _

_Good food if you don't mind your meat bloody. _

Riley paced as he waited for Buffy to arrive. She had promised to be over soon for their date, but had called to say the meeting had run late and she was just getting out of the shower. He was looking forward to a romantic dinner and some time alone, but the warning of the dark, mysterious, and breathtakingly stunning woman he vaguely remembered in a kind of hazy dream. It was an interesting thing to remember, especially since he could not have picked her face out of a crowd on the street. His mind felt fuzzy. All he knew was that he HAD to make sure Buffy was warned about the two goddesses out to destroy her. He couldn't let that happen! 

But how to stop them?He didn't even know what they looked like.He didn't know who they were.He couldn't just say to Buffy "there are two evil goddesses in town out to get you."This may have been Sunnydale, but not everything was that simple.Buffy would brush it off, probably, saying that she knew things around here better than he did and that she could take care of herself.Simply telling her would get nothing accomplished. 

So Riley continued to pace and pondered the strange warning he had received, the warning he believed whole-heartedly.If he couldn't just tell Buffy to be wary and have her actually do so, he'd have to take more immediate action. 

"What's with the carpet pacing?" 

Riley looked up with a start. He hadn't even heard Buffy open the door. He smiled and pulled her close in a warm, tender kiss. "I just couldn't wait to see you," he replied. Not mentioning his former train of thought. 

Buffy smiled. "That's sweet. So, are you going to take me to this surprise destination of yours or not?" 

"Of course," the TA grinned as he escorted her out the door. As they walked he put an arm around Buffy's shoulders. "So, how was the meeting? Did I miss anything?" 

Buffy sighed. "You wouldn't believe all that's going on. I'll just give you the short version if that's okay." When Riley nodded she continued. "Well it seems that our two new friends are actually goddesses here on some kind of mission of good. Their mischievous sister is also in our world making trouble and trying to keep them from accomplishing their task. I know this probably sounds completely wacky, but it's true. Willow and Anya both vouch for them, and they sure don't feel like evil-creepies." 

Riley felt sick.Those girls...*those* sisters...They were the ones about whom he had been warned, and he had led them right to Buffy.Why, they were probably working on their nefarious plan right now! 

Some of his horror must have shown on his face, for Buffy placed a gentle hand on his arm and looked at him in concern."Riley?What's wrong?" 

He said nothing for a moment and pulled slightly away.He gave her an empty grin and lied."Nothing's wrong," he assured her."So...uh, where are they staying?" 

Buffy shrugged."You know what?I don't know.Last I saw them they were at Giles', though.I think they're still there.Why?" 

"No reason," Riley said falsely."No reason at all.Um...did they say why they're here?" 

Buffy got an odd look on her face as she thought for a second."No...no, they were rather vague on that." 

*So they aren't all on the up and up,* Riley thought. "Shouldn't someone have asked?" he queried. 

Buffy glared at him. "You don't think Willow's right about trusting them?" She asked, clearly pissed that he was questioning her friend, and her own judgment. 

"Now, Buffy," he held up both hands, palms toward here in a placating gesture. "It's not that I don't think you and Willow can tell when someone's good or bad. I just think that if we're dealing with goddesses, who knows what kind of spells they could have cast on anybody?" 

Buffy still maintained an expression of anger, but he could see doubt creeping into her eyes."You don't think someone would have noticed a spell being cast?Willow, or Giles - he played with a lot of magic in his time.Or Tara or Anya maybe?Or, I don't know, me?You don't think I can tell who's trustworthy and who isn't?" 

"They're goddesses, Buffy," Riley explained slowly."Who knows the sort of magic they possess.Maybe they could distort our whole reality and we wouldn't even notice!" 

Buffy opened her mouth to argue, but fell silent instead.Her anger disappeared. "As much as I hate to admit it...you're right." 

Riley kept himself from rejoicing at that minor victory.He noticed Buffy's hesitation."Then what's bothering you?" 

"It's just...if you're right, why doesn't it *feel* right?" 

Riley shrugged."I don't know.But you can't trust these two at face value.You simply can't." 

Buffy nodded, then looked at him strangely. "Why not?" 

"You *can't.* They aren't like us." 

"Like we're all normal, right?" Buffy asked, sounding a little ticked off. 

Riley sighed. "You know what I mean." 

"No, I don't think I do," she replied. "What DO you mean?" 

"Buffy!" he said back in exasperation."They aren't human!You don't know what they want.You don't know what they can do!" 

"That's it, isn't it?" Buffy said in sudden understanding."All that's human is automatically good, and all that's isn't is evil.Is that the way it's always going to be with you?" 

"That's not what I meant," Riley defended himself.*Not that it doesn't seem to hold true most of the time...* 

Buffy's gaze seemed to go...cold."I should hope not.Because I've seen some terrible, evil things, and they were caused by human hands.And I've known ... others that were far more 'human' in their ways, good 'people' who weren't people at all." 

The conversation was taking a very different turn, and he wasn't sure quite where he'd lost control of it."This isn't the point, Buffy.Those girls aren't..." 

"Aren't what?" Buffy demanded."Aren't like us?Maybe they're closer to us than you think.How human are we, Riley?I'm the Slayer.I can do things no other human being can do.And you, with your strength enhancing drugs and demon technologies...who knows everything they've done to you?"She paused, looking a bit bitter."How human are we?" 

Riley opened his mouth to respond, but Buffy cut him off. "Nevermind, I don't want to hear it right now. There's a lot to be done. If you want to help, come to Giles' tomorrow morning. If not..." She didn't finish the thought, but instead turned heel and left. 

As the door slammed behind her, Riley's mouth closed. *I've got to do something to save her from them.*

* * *

**Part Five **

_Angel Investigations _

_Always looking for a few good demon hunters. _

_Hopeless and Helpless need not apply, we've met our quota. _

Wesley stood back in the doorway of Angel's bedroom, watching the vampire pack a small, black duffle."Are you sure this is the best idea?" he asked for the ump-teenth time. 

Angel didn't even look at him.He just regarded an odd looking axe for a moment in silence before putting it aside as too big to fit in the duffle.Besides, he wasn't planning on fighting.This...was a truth-seeking trip. 

"I mean, I'm sure Mr. Giles has everything well in hand," Wesley tried. 

Angel nodded. "I'm sure he does. But if someone suspicious *doesn't* want me to go, then I think I should be there." 

"You are a contrary vampire aren't you?" the Brit sighed. 

Angel smiled. "It's my nature," he said as he stuffed another shirt in the bag. "Call me paranoid and suspicious if you like." 

Wesley ignored the comment and looked a bit flustered."Yes, well...if you're certain this is the correct course of action..." he said."That is, I trust your judgment, Angel. I'm just worried it may be clouded where...Sunnydale is concerned." 

"I'm not going because of Buffy," Angel said smoothly. 

"Now, I didn't say that," Wesley replied defensively. 

Angel looked slightly amused."No, but it's what you meant," he pointed out."Look, I'm going to Sunnydale because there's something going on that I need to figure out, alright?You didn't see this...goddess...that made both Cordelia and I uncomfortable." 

"Sorry I missed her," Wesley muttered. 

He didn't mean for Angel to hear, but his supernatural hearing picked it up anyway."You can come along if you want," Angel said after a moment. 

Wesley tried not to look *too* eager at the opportunity. In truth, he had been dying to see how things were in the Hellmouth, as well as get his hands on some of Giles' books. "I think that's a good idea," he said as calmly as possible. "Give me an hour to pack and we can be on our way." 

Angel tried not to chuckle as Wesley rushed out of the basement apartment without even waiting for his response.He knew the "rogue demon hunter" would be back in half an hour, tops.He didn't mind the company.Wesley was an asset, had a tremendous amount of knowledge, and could drive in the daytime.Angel would wait for him. 

He continued to pack, not in any great hurry.Things didn't seem too dire at the moment, and he had to wait for Wesley.Of course, things could change to dire very quickly both in L.A. and in Sunnydale.He only hoped he'd get there before that happened. 

Someone cleared their throat in Angel's doorway, and he glanced up.Cordelia was looking at him and his half packed belongings. "Wesley's coming?" she asked briefly. 

"Yes." 

"You're not leaving without me, then," Cordelia stated firmly, before leaving the room as well. 

*Probably to start packing,* Angel thought with a bit of a sigh, knowing just how long it could take Cordelia to pack.It would probably be midday, then, before they were all ready to leave.Longer than Angel would have liked. 

He just hoped that for *once* things on the Hellmouth wouldn't get out of control before he arrived. 

* * *

_The Bronze _

_Good music, good drinks, good times _

_The most normal place in town _

NutMeg grinned as Willow, Buffy, and Anya escorted her and Cynamin into what turned out to be an exciting looking dance club. The sign outside had read "The Bronze." NutMeg's first thought was of scantily clad Greek and Roman warriors. 

Not that she expected to find them inside this place.Still, it looked like a lively party.It certainly brought smiles to the faces of the girls they were staying with simply to walk in the door.NutMeg was quickly grinning from ear to ear as well. 

Cynamin, on the other hand, looked positively...well, NutMeg didn't know what her sister was thinking, but she had a scowl plastered on her face.Her hands were in her pockets and she wasn't saying a word.Actually, she hadn't said much since her outburst that morning. 

NutMeg elbowed her suddenly and Cynamin let out an undignified squeak.The three girls turned around in surprise, and NutMeg began to chuckle. 

"What was that for?" Cynamin demanded. 

"You're reverting to your too serious ways," NutMeg mock scolded. "You need to loosen up.And *this* is the perfect place for that!" 

Cynamin didn't look completely convinced, but she managed a weakly amused smile. "Whatever you say," she replied with only mild sarcasm. 

NutMeg gave up on her stick-in-the-mud sibling and stepped up to walk next to Willow and Buffy. "This place is great. We don't have anything like this at home." 

"Goddesses don't party?" Willow looked a little startled at the concept. Obviously she'd never really thought about the after-work habits of deities. 

The blonde goddess laughed. "Well of course we do. Most of us anyway. But usually we don't have...well...*this,*" she motioned around her. "A lot of the Elders think physical forms of entertainment are too infantile." 

"Infantile?" Buffy queried. 

"Speaking in terms of the age of the universe anyway," NutMeg replied. "Like millennia. The younger species and worlds as opposed to the older ones." 

"You mentioned...Elders," Buffy said slowly."What...that is, how old are you...in comparison?" 

"Old enough," NutMeg said, very sure of herself. 

That only made Buffy look more suspicious. 

"It's a sensitive subject," Cynamin explained finally."We're considered to be essentially teenagers in our own way, but after a couple of millennia being treated like you're twelve wears thin." 

"I could imagine!" Willow replied, wide eyed. 

Cynamin smiled slightly."Plus, poor NutMeg here is the baby of the family." 

"Hey!" 

"Which only makes it worse." 

"I am *not* the youngest!" NutMeg glared at her sibling. "There are thousands of goddesses younger than I am! It's not *my* fault that I have two nincompoop sisters who act twelve! It's because of you two that everyone *assumes* I'm just as immature! Like you...DROOLING over every cute media star in the known universe! And Kirshana, always causing trouble. It's not fair!" 

"I do not DROOL!!" Cynamin yelled back, annoyed."And I do not act twelve!And Kirshana is Dad's favorite, so you can't blame it on her either!" 

"Oh, you do so!" NutMeg spat. "There was Chris O'Donnell for a while, then Stan Kirsch, Antonio Banderez, and don't me STARTED on David Boreanaz!" 

"Who?" Buffy looked confused at the last one. The sisters ignored her. 

"Don't even go there!" Cynamin yelled back."Or need I remind you that you once upon a time liked Jonathan Taylor Thomas!"This was obviously an old argument."And you were right there with me for Chris O'Donnel and Stan Kirsch.And *you're* the one who drools over Antonio Banderez doing bare-chested pushups!" 

NutMeg was grinning at her.She loved getting her sister riled up like this."And...David...?" 

Cynamin gaped like a fish for a moment, trying to come up with a good come back.Finally she sighed in defeat."Can I help it if he looks good in leather pants?" 

NutMeg seriously failed to hold back the snort of laughter that followed. "No, I think I'll have to forgive you there." 

That was when the two sisters realized they were surrounded by confused, and amused, mortals. This sent them into another fit of giggles. 

"Umm...not to interrupt the very odd sibling bonding you've got going here," Buffy said once they had stopped laughing to catch their breath, "but...what are you talking about?" 

"Drool-worthy men," NutMeg piped up, causing her sister to fight back more laughter. 

"Oooh, like Xander," Anya said dreamily."Especially when he gets all sweaty and..."She trailed off when she noticed the whole group staring at her."What?" 

A loud ringing caused the entire group to jump instead of replying to Anya's questioning look. Willow reached into her brightly colored motley cloth purse and pulled out a cellular phone. 

"Where did *that* come from?" Buffy asked. 

Willow smiled. "Giles got tired of never being able to find any of us, so he bought it." 

"Why did he give it to *you*?" the Slayer continued. 

"Because I'm *the most responsible, and least violent,*" she chuckled at her own imitation of Giles' voice. She picked up the phone. "Hello, Giles? Mmmhmmm. Okay. Yep. Bye." She hung up with a beep and put the phone away. "Giles wants us back at his place." 

Buffy rolled her eyes dramatically."But we just got here!" she said, even as she led the group of them back out of the club they had just barely entered. 

Everyone else followed her calmly, knowing there wasn't much else they could do.Giles wouldn't have called if it wasn't important.Probably just the end of the world again.Cynamin and NutMeg stayed at the back of the group, wondering just what they were getting into this time. 

They were just out the door when Buffy stopped abruptly.The rest of the group bnarely avoided running into her.There was no one in sight except... 

"Hey!" an unfortunately familiar male voice called. 

"Riley," Buffy replied, sounding none too happy. 

The two sisters cringed. 

"Buffy," he nodded a greeting. "I was on my way to get you." 

"Well, we're on our way to Giles'," the Slayer began to move past him. "He needs us right away. What do you want?" 

"I...I just..." 

Buffy sighed."Riley, it's really important that we go now," she said, trying to move on. 

"Well, you said I should come..." he began, then stopped when he saw Cynamin and NutMeg."You!" he said angrily. 

Both goddesses looked bewildered."Uhh...us!" NutMeg replied. 

"What do you think you're doing here?" Riley turned to confront them, actually rather imposing up close with his angriest face on. 

NutMeg smiled innocently. "We're here to save the world of course. Just like every other girl here." She stepped up closer to him, allowing Riley a moment to take note of what she had implied. Just like she had hoped, he lost it. 

"Like I'm supposed to believe that," he snarled. "I don't know what you've done to the others, but you can't fool *me.* I know you're here on some evil whim, planning to throw the world into chaos again or whatever. So why don't you go away and leave us alone!" 

"Riley Finn!" 

NutMeg grinned broadly into the irate TA's face as he turned to face his now even more irate girlfriend's face. His face went from bright red to bleached white. Quite a trick. 

"How *dare* you attempt to speak for me or anyone else here!" the Slayer slammed her fist into Riley's chest, knocking him back a good two feet. "Not to mention assume that we're so adle-brained that we've been brainwashed instead of making an informed decision! Obviously you haven't a clue as to what you're talking about, and I think you need to reconsider your sources of information. I can't believe you're so ignorant. Now get the *hell* out of my sight!" She stopped, panting, only then realizing that she had been moving forward the whole time, and Riley was now backed up into the wall of the building. 

Willow's and Anya's eyes were as big around as walnuts. Cynamin looked confounded and a little annoyed with her sibling. NutMeg was grinning broadly. 

Riley edged around the corner of the building and ran. He had to get away from them! Not only were they brainwashed, they were demon possessed! 

When Riley was gone, Buffy exhaled, breathing deeply to calm herself down. "I can't believe him! The nerve!" 

Willow stepped up and put her hand on Buffy's shoulder. "We need to go." 

The Slayer nodded and led them once again off across town. 

Cynamin moved to the back and immediately accosted her sister. "What did you think you were doing?!" she whispered angrily. "He was ready to physically attack you!" 

NutMeg grinned. "Exactly what I wanted him to do. He lost his temper. He sounded like a completely self-righteous idiot. In front of Buffy, who now doesn't walk to even *see* him." 

Cynamin stopped her scolding and a look of realization came over her face."Oh," she whispered.Then, brighter and grinning, "Oh!"She smiled in delight."You...I...yes!" 

The group turned around and looked at her in surprise."Sorry," Cynamin muttered sheepishly before turning to her sister once again."Thank you," she whispered earnestly."He was *so* getting on my nerves." 

"I noticed," NutMeg whispered back, looking amused. 

Cynamin grinned."Congratulations, you solved problem number one.How to get rid of fish boy."Her smile faded then."Only, like, 2 million problems left to go." 

"2 million?" 

"Starting with How to get our couple of choice in the same town as one another," Cynamin muttered."They're being extremely uncooperative about that." 

* * *

_I-10 East _

_The fastest way to nowhere _

_California Traffic at it's finest _

"Pass another chip," Wesley sighed from the driver's seat of Angel's car. 

"I don't see why we have to live in the city with the worst traffic in the country!" Cordelia wailed from the seat next to him. 

"Just lucky I guess," Angel replied with a straight face as he handed Wesley a Pringle. He was in the back and the top was up. The sun was almost down, but the smog on the highway was bad enough that the top was needed to keep out the carbon monoxide. The air conditioner was on full force and recirculating the internal air. 

Angel was laying down in the back, a blanket over him to keep out the last of the days sunlight.It was a good thing he didn't really feel the temperature, or even with the air conditioner on he would have been miserable.He was starting to wonder if this little expedition was doomed...if the traffic was trying to tell him something... 

"Angel." 

"Hmmm?" Angel blinked, then again. Then, he woke up completely. It was dark. Completely. And the car wasn't moving. Out the window he could see only the tops of trees. "Are we there?" he asked, eager to be out of the back, where his long frame was now feeling very cramped. 

"No," Cordelia sighed dramatically from where she stood, looking in the back window. "We're not fortunate enough to be back in Sunnyhell." 

"Then where are we?" the vampire asked. "And where's Wesley?" 

"Here," the Brit replied, coming into view. There was a black smudge across his face that smelled like it might be gasoline. 

"Okay, *what* is going on?" Angel asked his two friends and employees once again. 

Wesley sighed. "We appear to be out of gas." 

* * *

**Part Six **

_Giles' Residence _

_Home of one of the many who doesn't seem to need work _

_Vampires please go away _

"Where have you girls been!?" Giles demanded as soon as he opened the door. 

"Good to see you too, Giles," Buffy said pointedly, sidling her way past him, closely followed by her friends and the two goddesses. 

Giles would have none of it."It just so happens we are in the middle of an emergency," he said pointedly."This is no time for you to be doing who knows what who knows where!" 

Buffy fought back a grin."Chill, okay?We were just trying to show our visitors a good time.We were at The Bronze.Now what's the big emergency?" 

"The Initiative," he said without preamble. "Their meddling has caused us to have a serious problem." 

"When doesn't it?" Anya snorted derisively. 

Giles shot her a glare. "They somehow managed to knock out all of the electricity on the University campus while chasing Adam. Now all the electric security locks on campus -and all the lights- are out, and Adam is running rampant." 

Buffy sighed."And still Riley had the time to come and threaten us," she muttered. 

NutMeg giggled. 

Willow looked at her."I don't suppose you two could..." She waved her hands about for a second, "make it *poof* all better?" 

Cynamin shook her head."Our powers are...restricted outside our own domain.And if Kirshana's involved in this...which wouldn't surprise me...we wouldn't be able to anyway." 

"Alright Giles," Buffy said, sounding none too thrilled."Break out the good weapons.It looks like we're going hunting." 

* * *

_U.C. Sunnydale _

_Institution of Higher Learning and Lower Scum _

_Don't trust the Frat Boys _

Campus...was dark. And not just night dark, but lights-out-and-the-clouds-are-covering-the-stars-and-moon dark. It was strangely quiet too. As if all the students were hiding. Of course, it *was* one in the morning. And they probably *were* hiding. Occasionally a grunt or other demonic sound would carry across the silent lawns, unearthly and creepy. 

Willow shivered."I don't like this," she whispered.She was holding a good sized club with a hook on the end so hard her knuckles were white."I really don't like this." 

Buffy turned to look at her, barely able to see her in the dark."If it makes you feel any better, I don't like it either," she whispered. 

"Oh yeah, that makes us feel a whole lot better," Xander replied sarcastically, having arrived on the scene only shortly after the rest of them had. 

"We'll cover more ground if we split up," Buffy suggested. 

Anya made an odd sound at that."I don't think it's a good idea to be without supernatural powers right now.If I was still a demon, I'd say 'cool, let's split up' but as it is...I'm sticking with the Slayer." 

"You have more supernatural powers in this group than that you know." 

Anya glanced back at NutMeg, who had spoken, and Cynamin. "Oh, yeah." 

"Good then," Buffy nodded. "Anya and Xander go with Cynamin. NutMeg come with Willow and I. We'll cover the dorm side. You three start at the other end," she motioned at Xander's group. 

Cynamin looked a bit grumpily at the group she'd been given."Come on then," she said, managing to sound annoyed even when whispering, and lead the two to the other end of the campus. 

"Nice to know we're wanted," Xander muttered as they walked away. 

"Shhhh!" 

NutMeg just grinned as her sister headed off. 

"Let's go," Buffy motioned with one arm, and the Slayer, the witch, and the goddess headed for the dorms. 

* * *

_Angel's car _

_A true classic _

_Stylish by night, essential by day _

"There it is!" Cordelia shouted happily, jumping up and down and waving at the approaching lights. 

"Finally," Angel sighed. 

"Aren't you glad I brought the cell phone?" she said smugly. 

"Thrilled," Wesley's reply was only *slightly* sarcastic. 

"You know, if you'd checked the gas gage before we left we wouldn't be in this mess," Cordelia pointed out. 

"Yes, well, if you had filled up the car the last time you 'borrowed' it I wouldn't have had to," Wesley retorted. 

Angel sighed.*Am I the boss or the baby-sitter?* he thought briefly."Let's not place blame here," Angel said."Let's just get some gas, and get on the road again.Alright?" 

"Okay," Cordelia agreed just to be agreeable. 

The tow truck hooked up the car and the three of them crammed into the tiny cab with the cute but very un-rich tow truck driver, George. It was a twenty minute drive to the nearest gas station, and Angel thought he might scream if he had to listen to Cordelia and George flirt for another moment. As they got down out of the cab he was just happy to be able to stretch. 

George winked at Cordelia one last time and then nodded at Wesley and Angel. "Hey, this one's on me." 

"Thanks," Cordelia smiled as he drove away. Then she turned to Angel. "I just saved you fifty bucks. I think *someone* deserves a thank you." 

Angel looked at Wesley. "Wesley, thank you." 

Wesley grinned back. "You're most welcome." 

Cordelia didn't have time to ask what they were referring to before she was unceremoniously dumped through the back window of the car. 

"Hey!" she cried when she found herself sitting in the back. 

Chuckling Angel went around to the driver's seat.Wesley sat next to him, and then they were off once again.With any luck, they might make it to Sunnydale before sunrise... 

* * *

_U.C. Sunnydale Library _

_Full of New ideas and Old tomes _

_Don't let the dust get you _

Cynamin stalked quietly through the old building, warily keeping an eye -and a minor magic spell- out for Adam. She was going to throttle her sister if she ever figured out how she managed to get to go with Buffy, while *she* was stuck with Xander and Anya! 

Okay, so Anya wasn't really that bad.I mean, they'd been friends once.of course, at the time Anya had been a vengeance demon and Cynamin had just gotten off this really bad relationship...so they kind of had common ground.This new, powerless Anya was *very* strange. And she thought most mortals were weird! 

She heard something.None of her magical alarms went off, so it wasn't Adam, but there was someone else here.With a shushing motion towards her charges, Cynamin crept forward to the source of that strange whisper. 

She peered around the corner and stopped dead. It wasn't the *last* thing she expected to see, but it was close. This was the perfect opportunity to find out what was going on. Motioning Xander and Anya to be quiet, she gave Xander the hand signal to turn on the hand-held tape recorder he had brought. She was glad now that he had thought to bring it in the first place. *We've got you now, Kirshana.* 

The pitiful vampire was cowering in front of the angry goddess, her black clothing blending into the shadows around her.He would not look her in the eye. 

"Please," he begged."To go up against the Slayer like that...it's suicide!" 

Kirshana looked at him with angry fire in her gaze."Of course it is!" she whispered harshly back."This isn't about you.This is about darkness.This is about showing my sisters once and for all what the stronger force in the universe is.You will do as you're told," she ordered."You will fight, and you will die.Meanwhile, the real plan will go into effect.You are the distraction only - be a good one." 

The vampire quivered and bowed, then turned and ran. 

Kirshana was grinning viciously. "This is working out better than I thought. The mortals on this world are even stupider than the last one I was on! Perhaps I should follow my siblings more often. This is *so* amusing." With a chuckle, she vanished. 

Cynamin turned to Xander. "Did you get that?" 

The dark-haired guy grinned. "Every word." 

"We've got to get back to the others." 

The trio quickly exited the building. Unaware of the eyes on them from above. 

Kirshana smiled to herself and went off to find her next target. 

* * *

_The Quad _

_Center of dorm life on campus _

_Anybody up for Frizbee? _

Buffy crept silently through the bushes outside one of the girls dorms. NutMeg and Willow had made a quick detour to Stevenson to pick up a book of spells Willow thought might be useful. Buffy continued to scout. She hadn't seen anything yet. Not even a camouflaged member of the goon squad. The bushes rustled behind her and she spun, stake drawn. 

"Calm down," a voice said, coming from what had just been in front of her. Buffy spun back around to come face to face with a woman in black. The outfit was clearly goddess. Buffy recognized it because it was similar to an outfit NutMeg had shown them from her home...dimension. "My my aren't we jumpy?" the woman smiled. It wasn't a pleasant smile. 

"What do you want?" Buffy glared at the woman. 

"To warn you," she replied calmly. "My sisters are here for Angel." 

Buffy's heart clenched. "What do you mean?" 

Kirshana laughed. "Isn't it obvious? My sister Cynamin is absolutely obsessed with your vampire. She'd do anything to ensure his happiness. Even take him for herself." 

Buffy looked stricken."You can't...She wouldn't!" 

Kirshana just smiled in a knowing way."If you insist," she said lightly."Of course, you could always wait until he arrives to find out for yourself." 

"He's coming here?" Buffy said in a strangled voice. 

"He should be...over half way here by now," Kirshana clarified. 

Buffy wasn't sure what to think. Anya and Willow trusted the other two. And this one was supposed to be the sister causing trouble. But, why would she lie? "I don't believe you," she replied. "Angel has no reason to come to Sunnydale." 

"You're presuming he comes of his own free will," the goddess smiled. "Compulsion is a very simple spell to master." 

Buffy was completely floored by the suggestion. "Angel...he's very strong willed!They couldn't...she wouldn't..." 

But Kirshana could see the doubts brewing in Buffy's mind."Perhaps," she said in a tone suggested that she thought Buffy completely wrong."We shall see soon enough, won't we?"With that, she disappeared as quickly as she had appeared in the first place. 

Buffy was still staring at the empty space where the dark goddess had just been standing when she heard her name called from behind. It was Willow and NutMeg. 

"What were you staring at?" Willow asked as they approached. 

"Oh, nothing," Buffy replied. She didn't want to say anything to make the goddess standing next to her best friend suspicious. "Thought I heard something. Turned out to be a squirrel." 

"Out this late?" Willow asked. "That's unusual." 

Buffy just shrugged, preoccupied."Yeah, I guess..." 

"Oh!" Willow said suddenly.'Maybe it was a were-squirrel!Or a vampire squirrel!" 

That made Buffy grin slightly, and she tried to shake off the horrible feeling she gotten since Kirshana had spoken to her.It didn't work too well, though, when she was standing right next to another goddess.A goddess whose purpose was now more in question than ever.*Maybe Riley was right.* 

NutMeg watched Buffy carefully as they continued scouting, and noticed that the Slayer was eyeing her warily, though she knew the Slayer couldn't tell she was being watched herself. Something had happened while she and Willow were gone, and she would bet Kirshana was at the bottom of it. As they neared the center of campus, she stepped behind the other two and searched outward with her mind for her sister. 

She found her not far away.*Cyn...* 

Cynamin's mental reply was bubbling over with excitement.*I just ran into Kirashana!Not run into...she was talking to this vampire.They were planning something...I got it on tape!* 

NutMeg had trouble getting her own thoughts heard.*That's great.Have you been taking lessons in babbling from Willow?* 

A mental chuckle.*No.* 

*Well...we've got a problem here.* 

Cynamin was instantly serious.*What sort of problem?* 

*I don't know. Buffy's acting strange. Like maybe she doesn't quite trust me.* 

*But why wouldn't she? She seemed to earlier.* 

*You think maybe Kirshana got to her?* 

*Why would Buffy trust her?* Cynamin asked, worried. 

*Kirshana's got the strongest skill in compulsion out of all of us.* 

*That could be how she convinced Riley we were bad news,* the older sibling replied. 

*But what could she have said about us that Buffy would easily believe, or that might leave her vulnerable to suggestion? A Slayer's mind has always been strong against that kind of thing.* 

Cynamin gave a mental sigh.*She's human; she has weaknesses.Friends, family... Fears we don't know about.We'll just have to wait and see which one is bothering her.* 

NutMeg's mental nod was answer enough.*Though you know this will come back and haunt us later.* 

*I know,* Cynamin agreed reluctantly.*Right now, I don't see that we have any other choice.*A pause. *We're heading back over to where you are.Just...keep your eyes open, okay?* 

*Eyes, ears, and empathic sensors wide open, sister dearest," NutMeg replied lightly, even though the undertones confirmed that she was dead serious. 

(Continued)


	3. Parts 7 - End

# Real Estate (or 'A Unique Fixer Upper')

By Cynamin & NutMeg

## Part Seven 

_The road into Sunnydale _

_The perfect vacation spot... _

_...if your lifestyle choices are demonic _

"I *never* thought I'd be glad to see that sign again," Cordelia said with a sigh as they passed the "Welcome to Sunnydale" sign. 

"I honestly never thought I'd see it again," Wesley replied. 

Angel didn't say anything. 

"Angel?" Cordelia prompted, eager to hear his own thoughts on the subject. 

He didn't say anything for another long moment."What am I doing here?" he asked finally.He looked, and sounded, very nervous. 

"You're leading this little expedition," Cordelia pointed out."So keep driving, brood boy!" 

Angel gave her a withering look, but quickly averted his eyes back to the road. They didn't need to crash on top of everything else that had happened on this little adventure. He hoped Giles would have some answers by the time they arrived. 

The town looked just like it had when Angel had last been there, and in his heart he still knew every corner and shrub. It was only a few minutes later when they pulled up outside the former-Watcher's home. There was a small light on in the downstairs window, telling the LA group that someone was awake, but that the whole gang was *not* inside. 

Angel pulled his car into the driveway, feeling even more nervous as he went to get out.He'd almost forgotten what it was like last time he returned to Sunnydale.Like then, he was standing outside the ex-Watcher's house, knowing something was going on but not quite sure what.Unlike then, he promised himself he wasn't going to lurk like last time.Well, not *too* much...he might just stand here for a minute...make sure he was welcome... 

Cordelia shot him a look and brushed past him.Before Angel could stop her, she was knocking firmly on Giles' door. 

The door creaked open and a tired but dressed Giles opened the door. His eyebrows shot up when he saw who was standing at the door. "He..hello. What an...unexpected surprise. Do come in," he said, a little dazed. "I was just making myself a cup of tea. Would you like some?" 

"I would please," Wesley said. The others politely declined. When they were all sitting down, Cordelia and Wesley on the couch and Angel and Giles in chairs, things became awkwardly silent. 

"Surprise!" Cordelia smiled, shrugging at Giles. 

"That is an understatement," the ex-librarian replied. "Would you all mind telling me what you're doing here? And at three in the morning!" 

"We've been visited by a goddess," Angel said straight out. "She wears black, likes to appear when you're the least decent, and warned us *not* to come to Sunnydale. But you know that much already. We decided we'd come see what was really going on. We weren't getting anywhere in LA." 

Giles leaned back in his chair for a moment in thought."So you want to know what's going on in Sunnydale?" 

"Yes," Angel replied."I want to know why she didn't want me here." 

"And you couldn't have done this over the phone?" 

Angel looked a bit sheepish, and Cordelia gave him an odd smile."He doesn't like using the phone.I think it has something to with being around before they were invented." 

Angel shrugged."Listen...I'm sorry we disturbed you so early in the morning.And I should have called.But since you're awake anyway, I assume that something *is* going on?" 

"Well, yes, as usual," Giles replied, straightening his glasses and sipping his tea. "The other two goddesses are out right now with the others hunting down Adam and the Initiative." He briefly explained both of them to the others, leaving out mention of Riley. Now was not the time for that. "Anyway, the campus lights are out, everything is chaos, and I'm waiting for them to return, which should be shortly." 

Angel was quiet for a moment, thinking.So much for things being quiet in Sunnydale."Should I go help?" he wondered aloud. 

"That might not be the best idea," Giles said shortly."The Initiative is out there tonight as well.You don't want them mistaking you for..." 

He left the sentence hanging, but Angel could figure out well enough what he meant."A vampire?" 

"Yes...well..." 

"I can't just sit around and do nothing, Giles!" 

"You can stay here and look through these books," he replied. "I'm trying to figure out what was done to create Adam. Maybe there's something we can do to stop him." 

Angel looked dubious, but he agreed. "Fine, but Cordelia and Wesley are going out to find them. They can be of help." 

"Ummm...is this a *big* demon?" Cordelia asked. 

"No, he's itsy-bitsy," Giles said sarcastically. "Yes, he's rather large." 

"Great!" she through up her hands. "Why can't we ever get a little demon?" 

*You should have been here for Halloween,* Giles thought to himself. "Well, I need to get something from the magic shoppe. It's open all night now. So I'll point you in the direction of campus," he said as he escorted Wesley and Cordelia out the door. 

Angel found himself left alone in the house with a pile of books. Going to the fridge he found -much to his surprise- a pint of blood. Then he remembered hearing something about Spike being more helpful of late and shrugged, poured it into a mug, and put it in the microwave. When it was done he took it out and tasted it. *Not bad.* He was just sitting down to the books when the doorbell rang. *Who could that be?* Thinking it might be Buffy and the gang made him nervous. Could he face her? But he knew he had no choice in the matter. He had to answer the door. 

Still holding his mug, Angel crossed the room and turned the handle. 

"Mr. Giles, I need to--" the other person stopped and stared at Angel. He was tall, blonde, and muscular. And he did *not* look happy to see Angel there instead of Giles. 

"Who are you?" Angel asked. "And where's Buffy?" He couldn't imagine why this guy would be at Giles' door so early in the morning unless he had something to do with the gang. 

The boy looked instantly wary."Where's Mr. Giles?" he demanded, pushing his way into the apartment. 

Angel stared at the boy intently.Vaguely, he remembered seeing him before...with Buffy.This wasn't making him feel any better about this visit."He had something to do...and I do believe I asked you first.Who are you and where is Buffy?"He barely managed to suppress a frustrated growl. 

"I'm Riley Finn and I don't know where Buffy is," he replied shortly.'And you are?" 

"Angel." 

Riley looked at him very oddly."Just Angel?"He sounded suspicious. 

"Just Angel." 

"What are you doing here? And how do you know Buffy?" he asked sharply. 

Angel wasn't sure he liked where this track of conversation was going. "I'm here to find out what's going on. Giles went to run an errand and should be back soon. You can come in and wait if you want." 

Riley was about to answer, but then he saw the mug in Angel's hand. 

Angel saw Riley's gaze and silently cursed. This could *not* look good. 

"I don't suppose you'd believe it was tomato soup?" Angel joked weakly. 

Riley glared at him coldly."Not a chance, vampire," he said.To Angel's surprise he pulled out a weapon and aimed it squarely at his chest."What have you done with Mr. Giles?" 

Angel sighed. *Great, he knows about vampires. Though obviously not enough to keep a stake on him.* "I told you, he's out running an errand at the magic shop." He very pointedly did *not* take a step in any direction. Instead he relaxed his muscles and stood easily. "You can put that down you know. If I *wanted* to hurt you you'd be dead already." 

Riley did not lower the weapon.'I hope you'll forgive me if I don't take your word on that," he said sarcastically.He kept his weapon aimed at Angel."You...stay there.I'm...going to check the house for dead bodies." 

"Go right ahead," Angel replied, trying not to smirk, and stepping out of his way. 

Eyeing Angel all the while, Riley searched the place from top to bottom and, just as the vampire had known would happen, he found nothing. He looked at Angel. "Where'd you get the blood?" 

"In the fridge," he motioned towards the kitchen and took a sip from his mug. 

Riley looked disgusted. "Mr. Giles keeps blood in the fridge?" 

"Sure he does," Angel smiled calmly. He still wanted to know how this guy knew Giles, and Buffy. And it was sadistically fun to keep the college boy off guard. 

"You lie," Riley said."Why would he keep blood in the fridge?" 

"For visitors," Angel replied, and this time he did smirk."You could ask him yourself when he gets back." 

Riley still looked doubtful. 

"Sit down," Angel encouraged."I promise I'm not going anywhere." 

"I think I'll stand," the blonde guy replied, leaning against the kitchen counter and *not* managing to look very calm. "Wanna tell me why you're really here?" 

This was going to be a *long* few minutes. "I told you. I talked with Giles the other day when some weird things started to happen. So I and my crew came down to check it out." 

Riley seemed to pale at that."Your...crew?" 

Angel tried not to laugh outright at the look on his face.The boy obviously thought the place was about to be invaded.Never mind that the image of Cordelia and Wesley invading anywhere was perposterous.Well, unless it was a shopping mall in Cordelia's case.He managed to keep his laughter contained, but just barely."Yes.My friends.Perhaps Buffy's mentioned Cordelia?They went to school together."He doubted it, but it was worth a shot. 

"Oh, well I've heard of her. But she's never mentioned *you,*" he said suspiciously. "Buffy doesn't talk about her past much. But she talks about her friends. What does that make you?" 

Angel just smirked at him.He *really* didn't like this boy."What do you think?" he said pointedly. 

Riley paused for a moment. This vampire couldn't really mean what he was insinuating. There was no way Buffy was into that kind of thing! Not with a demon. "I don't believe you." 

"I didn't say anything," Angel replied. *What a twit.* "So what's not to believe?" 

Riley tried to stare him down, but Angel just returned the look, amused.*You think you're really tough, don't you?* 

"You don't... You can't expect me to believe that you and Buffy were...involved..."Riley seemed to choke on the words. 

Angel sighed inwardly.He really hadn't wanted to go there, but...*You asked for it.*"You could say that.We were...for three years." 

Riley's face contorted into one of pure disgust. "I won't believe that about Buffy! She's such a sweet, innocent thing! She would never have...been involved...with a monster!" 

Angel growled at him, not even trying to hide it anymore."Watch it, boy," he said angrily, emphasizing *boy.*"I may have said I don't want to hurt you, but that doesn't mean I can't."He returned Riley disgusted look with one of his own."You kiss Buffy with that mouth?" 

Riley stared back, indignant and insulted. "Better me than you, beast. At least I'm not going to suck her blood! I saw the scar on her neck. That was you wasn't it? She'd never let a Vampire close enough to do that kind of damage." 

This time Angel had enough.He couldn't help stepping forward angrily.It was bad enough that he had taken Buffy's blood; he wouldn't put up with this boy condemning him for an act that had been freely given - something he hadn't wanted in the first place."You have no idea what you're talking about," he snarled. 

"Oh, don't I?" Riley snarled. "Do you really think Buffy would keep something like that from me? Or that she's weak enough to *let* you do those things to her? She's mine fang-face and I'm not letting you near her. You think I don't know what you're up to? Trying to get near the Slayer?" 

"I'm not trying to get near the Slayer," Angel bit back."Been there, done that.I'm not trying to *steal* her from you.I am here to make sure everything is all right."He gave the boy an appraising look."Maybe you should wonder how much you really know about Buffy if she never told you about who she spent her nights with before you came along." 

Angel knew it was a low blow, but this boy was *not* worthy of Buffy by any stretch of the imagination. Oh, he was normal all right! Normal as in plain. He was vanilla ice cream without toppings! Buffy wasn't a vanilla person. He knew that from personal experience. 

"I don't invade people's personal space," Riley replied. "Buffy would tell me if she felt it were important. You must not have been worth mentioning." 

Angel couldn't help a bark of laughter at that."Oh, please.You think Buffy tells you everything?That you know everything that's important in her life?What has she told you about her past?Did she tell you about when she was called?When she got expelled from her first school for blowing up the gym?Or the second time, when she was suspected of killing her sister-Slayer?When she ran away for months? Or when it snowed on Christmas?"Angel smiled at the blank look he received."She never told you.You don't know.I know.I was there." 

Riley was speechless for a moment. Buffy had never mentioned any of those things to him. "Maybe she wanted to move on," he said at last. "To forget things like that. To move past her bad memories. Doesn't everyone want that?" 

"Maybe," Angel had to agree."But don't you think there were some good memories, too?" he pointed out."Like the award she won at the senior prom?Or some of the funny moments, like when all the adults started acting like teenagers?Or when the kids in town, including herself, turned into their Halloween costumes?How much has she told you about the last three years?" 

Riley's mouth opened and then closed again without a sound, making him look far too much like a fish. Angel found it very hard to hold in a laugh, but he managed. Then Buffy's new guy's eyes hardened. "And how do I know any of those things ever happened? How do I know you're not just trying to distract me?" 

"If I was, wouldn't something I was trying to distract you from have *happened* by now?" Angel pointed out."And there are plenty of ways to find out if I'm telling you the truth.Pictures. Photo albums.Or, here's a thought, *ask.*"He couldn't help but smile a bit mockingly at the boy."She hasn't told you much of *anything* has she?Do you two ever *talk?*" 

"Of course we talk," Riley replied. "Just...not about...those things." 

"What do you do the other twenty-two hours of the day?" Angel snapped. 

"Well, we..." Riley didn't finish the statement. "Hey, it's none of your damned business what we do together!" he glared at the vampire defensively. 

Angel chuckled.He was enjoying this way too much. "You expect me to tell you everything, but you won't answer my questions in return?Well, so much for common courtesy." 

"Fine," Riley glared at the vampire who was *way* too calm in his opinion. And too sure of himself. "We make love. Something she obviously didn't get from you!" 

That was enough to make Angel positively livid.The curse was enough pain between him and Buffy, without it being thrown in his face by this...brat!"You have no idea what you're talking about," he growled. 

To Angel's shock, someone else answered for him."They bloody well did *make love,* soldier boy," came the familiar British accented voice. "Just once, though.It's got this tendency to suck the soul right out of him."Spike leaned in the open doorway, cigarette in hand, smirking at the scene playing out in front of him. 

Angel and Riley stopped dead, so to speak, and stared at the blonde vampire. Both were surprised to see him, but the responses were vastly different. 

"Spike," Angel simply nodded to his Child. He would deal with him later. 

"Hostile 17!" Riley pulled the gun again. "Get in here with your friend. Make a move and you both die." 

Spike just laughed at him."You think you can manage that?You didn't kill me before, why should you now?Besides, I can't hurt a thing - your boys made sure of that.I'm not the dangerous one.Look at him, not me...'scourge of Europe' and all that." 

"Spike," Angel said again, this time with a hint of threat in his voice.He was making things worse...and enjoying every minute of it. 

"I haven't a clue what either of you are talking about," Riley said. "But I doubt you're any less dangerous than *he* is," he motioned at Angel, but was speaking to Spike. "Now move it." 

"What are you going to do if I don't?" Spike quipped, not budging, and taking another drag of his cigarette. 

Riley appeared to be completely at a loss.Almost as quickly as Angel noticed his indecision, though, Riley covered it up wit anger.He turned his weapon fully on Spike."If you don't move it *now* I will send you back to the Initiative, and I doubt you'd like that.Actually, I might just send you back anyway.I doubt anyone will miss you." 

Spike edged into the room and stood next to Angel...and a little behind. 

"What's going on here?" 

All three men turned at the sound of Xander's voice. Xander, Anya, and one of the goddesses stood in the still open doorway. 

Riley turned his gun on Cynamin, only to find that the trigger was broken and he couldn't fire. Cynamin smiled at him with a knowing grin. 

"You did this!" Riley yelled angrily. 

Cynamin just smiled at him."You know, you really should take cae of your weapons," she said."Living on the Hellmouth, you never know when you'll need them. 

Surrounded by a whole group of unfriendly faces, Riley was starting to get nervous.Before he could lash out again, though, Cynamin began to laugh. 

"Get out of here," she said, amused. 

"I don't take orders from you." 

"Yeah, well, Buffy is right behind us and she might not take it kindly that you were pointing a weapon at her ex," Cynamin retorted."You really don't want to have a repeat of earlier, do you?Because Buffy just might resort to physical violence this time." 

"She has a tendency to do that when Angel's involved," Anya pointed out."Or so I've been told.I didn't actually get to see any of the butt kicking, but that's how Faith ended up in her coma." 

Riley glanced furtively around the room, then bolted for the door. They let him go. 

## Part Eight 

Buffy, NutMeg, and Willow were just coming down the street toward Giles' when they saw Riley running at top speed in the other direction. Worried, they sped up to a jog, hoping to get there before whatever had happened got any worse. They were relieved, though surprised, to find Angel, Spike, and the other trio in Giles' home, with Giles nowhere in sight. 

The room went dead silent at Buffy's arrival.Everyone was holding their breath (Except for Spike, who doesn't breathe anyway) to see what her reaction would be.For a moment she and Angel just stared at each other. 

"Hi," Angel said finally. 

Buffy swallowed. "Hi. What are you doing here?" 

"I...we, Cordelia and Wesley came too....came to see if you could use some help figuring all this out." 

"Oh." 

Angel looked down a bit uncomfortably."I'm sorry.I know I should have called first..." 

"You should have," Buffy agreed a bit too shrply.Angel looked at her in surprise at her tone, but she waved it off."I'm sorry... It's been...a really tense couple of days.And tonight has been worse."She stopped, then looked at Angel firmly again."Are you the reason Riley was running out of here like he had hellhounds after him?" 

Angel looked slightly embarrassed, but his flashed at the mention of Riley's name. "He was rather...unfond of Spike and I." 

"That's putting it mildly," the blonde vampire snorted derisively. "He had a bloody gun pulled on us until they showed up." He pointed at Xander, Anya, and Cynamin. 

Buffy looked angry for a second, then just tired."It figures," she said."He's been *exceedingly* stupid the last couple of days."She looked at Angel, concerned no matter how hard she tried to fight it."He didn't hurt you, did he?" 

Angel gave her a half smile."I'm fine." 

Spike couldn't help but laugh."Soldier boy almost wasn't!It was like he was asking you to attack him!" 

"Spike," Angel said in warning. 

"Hey, if it wasn't for this chip of his, I'd have done it for you!" 

"Spike!" 

"I'm just saying-" 

"Spike!" Angel and Buffy yelled in unison. They stared at each other for a moment, then started laughing while the others stood around them in states varying from stunned to amused. Spike didn't speak again. 

Cynamin and NutMeg exchanged quick glancing smiles. The reunion had gone off without any staking. Things were looking up. 

"What's going on here?" Giles stood in his doorway, looking completely lost. Cordelia and Wesley walked up behind him at that moment. 

"Well, look at this!" Spike said brightly."It's a bloody reunion!" 

"That's it," Buffy muttered, stepping towards Spike threateningly."You tie him up, I'll gag him," she said to Angel. 

Angel smiled."Sounds like a good plan to me." 

"No need to get violent," Spike said quickly."Not when I might have valuable information for you, you know?" 

"What possible information could you have on goddesses?" Buffy glared at the vampire. "Or even on Adam and the Initiative?" She took another step toward him. "Tell me or I may have to get...violent." 

Spike looked at her with a grin, enjoying the attention.Once the silence had dragged out uncomfortably, he began."What if it was information on all of the above?" 

"Start talking," Angel demanded sharply. 

"Hey!It's just that half of this chaos tonight wasn't caused by Adam or the Initiative.I wasn't sure you knew what you were up against.But if I'm not welcome I could always leave..." 

"Spike!" NutMeg stepped out of the crowd. "Tell these wonderful people what you know about my sibling or I'll have you permanently castrated." Magically a dagger appeared in her hand. She handed it to Buffy. "Would you care to do the honors?" 

Buffy took the dagger. "Yes, tell us Spike." She glanced around the room to make sure no one else was *really* planning on staking him. She paused at the look on Cynamin's face. The goddess was staring...at Angel. 

She couldn't do anything about that right now, because Spike chose that moment to finally answer."Alright!" he yelled."I saw this lady...if you want to call her that...dressed all in black.She had a whole group of demons with her.Vampires, mostly.They weren't doing much, but they did manage to get in everyone else's way." He paused for a second."I don't suppose you noticed that there's nothing actually wrong with the electrical system on campus?" 

"Then what..." someone in the group started to say, quickly falling silent. 

"Magic, people!Are you daft?" 

"Of course!" Willow shook her head. "Is there some reason none of us thought of that?" 

"I don't know wicca-woman," Xander replied. 

"Kirshana," Cynamin nodded. "She's stirring up trouble again. Probably got demons bowing like courtiers at her feet." 

Everyone glanced at Cynamin for her choice of words.NutMeg shrugged."She's right.Kirshana always did have a way with...bad guys.Somehow, she always seems to get all sorts of evil things that would never work together all working for her." 

"So this would be bad," Xander observed. 

"Yes, it would be," Cynamin acknowledged. 

"So what can we do?" Buffy looked at the two goddesses. 

"We need to find her when she's not paying attention," NutMeg said. 

"And when would that be?" Wesley asked. 

The room fell silent."She's...well, she's not one to let her guard down easily," Cynamin explained."But she never expects us to go on the offensive.Especially if she thinks she's already beaten us." 

"So we need to make her think she's beaten us," Buffy frowned in thought. "And just how would we do that?" 

Cynamin thought for a long moment."I don't know... I can only assume she knows exactly what NutMeg and I are doing here," she said slowly."If we could somehow make it look like we failed..." 

"How do we do that," Buffy asked, "if you won't tell us what you're doing here yourself?" 

"It's...you and Angel are going to have to stay apart.That's the only way she'll think she's won." 

"I don't see what Angel and I have to do with this," Buffy crossed her arms under her chest. "I think it's about time you two came clean." 

NutMeg and Cynamin exchanged a mental *glance* of worry. 

"I don't know exactly how to explain this..." Cynamin began.The entire rest of the room was silent, waiting for an explanation, and she flinched under their combined gazes. 

"You'd better start explaining," Buffy said *too* softly. 

Cynamin shifted in her seat."I've told you before that we're...from another dimension, for want of a better word.In our dimension we have the capability to watch other worlds...much like you would watch a television show." 

"So you see everything we do?" Xander asked suddenly."That's...creepy." 

NutMeg spoke up easily. "Not everything.Just highlights.Exactly like a television show." 

"Still not seeing what this has to do with Angel," Buffy said, tapping the knife NutMeg had given her in her palm. 

Cynamin was silent for a long moment."I...I can't explain everything," she faltered. 

Buffy was *not* convinced. Some of the others looked worried. Anya looked interested, and Angel just seemed to be waiting for a full explanation. Buffy glared at them. "You show up, saying your here to help us, but you won't say *how* and everything that's going wrong seems to be caused by your sister who's out to stop you. What exactly *are* you trying to do?" The dagger was still in her hand. 

Cynamin looked at the ground uncomfortably."Create a happily-ever-after," she muttered. 

"What was that?" Buffy asked dangerously. 

Cynamin made a couple more unintelligible noises and NutMeg started laughing."Don't mind her - she's just obsessed.That's what sent us here in the first place." 

Cynamin made another 'eep' of sound and glared at her sister. 

"Obsessed?" the Slayer was confused. 

NutMeg smiled at her sister, then turned to the Slayer. "As you may remember, Cynamin and I had an argument at the Bronze about how she's always gushing over cute guys in different worlds. Which she does *constantly.* She's a true romantic, and she was watching your world one evening -that's our job as goddesses, to watch worlds and protect them if necessary- and I came in to find her *sobbing* over something. She wanted to fix it. We're allowed to enter worlds and try to fix things, but the condition is that we have to use the resources available in *that* world to do so. Think Star Trek "prime directive." Anyway, we're here, and we're trying to fix what's broken. Unfortunately, our sister loves chaos, and she's been stirring it up constantly since we got here. She doesn't want to hurt anyone, just annoy *us* and keep us from accomplishing our goal." 

"Oh!" Willow said suddenly."That's what I heard you upset about - you wanted to get Buffy and Angel back together!" 

Both Buffy and Angel looked completely shocked."What?" they asked in similar strangled voices. 

Cynamin sunk lower in her chair, blushing royally. 

Buffy glared at Cynamin. Then she glared at NutMeg. Then she glared at Willow. "You *knew* about this?!" she squeaked at her best friend. 

Willow blushed. "Ummm, well, there was a prophesy in this book...." 

"I don't believe this!" The Slayer began stalking back and forth. "My best friend and roommate set against me, in league with goddesses, and all to..." she paused and looked up at Angel. She began to shake, and suddenly, she was laughing. 

Everyone was baffled at that."I think I missed something..." Xander said faintly.Anya hushed him quickly, enjoying the show. 

Buffy crossed the room and hugged Willow, then Cynamin, NutMeg, and finally Angel. She hugged him for a much longer period of time. "I have a better idea," she said as her laughter subsided. "How about we make her think she's already lost." 

"Slayer's a bit slow on the uptake," Spike said with a chuckle."That's not the suggestion that started this little revelation.Sure you didn't get hit on the head a few too many times?" 

"I'm serious," the Slayer glared at the blond vampire again. "If she thinks she's already won, would she come out to gloat?" she asked the goddesses. 

"Absolutely," NutMeg laughed. "That's her favorite part of these little games. When she gets to rub our inadequacy in our faces." 

Buffy grinned wickedly. "Then I think I have a plan. Angel, you're going to *have* to go along with this whether you like it or not." 

The vampire sighed. "I have no choice but to trust you, do I?" He smiled a little. 

"Nope," the petite blonde replied. "Not a bit." 

"I almost hate to ask this...well, actually, no I don't," Xander said loudly.Everyone turned to look at him."What's the plan?" 

Buffy sat down on the couch. "It's simple. Your whole goal was to get Angel and I back together. Your sister's goal is to stop you. If she thinks we're ALREADY back together, then she'll be extremely pissed off that she's lost. That should bring her out into the open. All we have to do is set up an elaborate ruse." 

"An elaborate...ruse," Angel said uncertainly. 

"I've been studying my vocabulary," she shot back with a grin. 

Angel couldn't help but smile back."What exactly does this ruse entail?I mean, if we're going to pretend to be...together..." 

"Thinks could get....intimate." The Slayer seemed to forget anyone else was in the room for a moment. Then she remembered. "We have to be convincing. Of course, if you're not up to the challenge..." 

"Oh, I don't think that's a problem," Angel replied grinning.The only problem he could see was remembering that they were only pretending... 

Xander got an odd look on his face."Umm, odd thought, but what about your boyfriend?You know, Riley?" 

The room fell silent for a second, and then all the women in the room, including the two goddesses, started laughing. 

"What?" Xander asked. 

"I'll explain it to you later, after sex," Anya said quietly into his year. 

The confused boy just shrugged. 

"Somehow I don't think Riley will be an issue," Buffy said finally. "In fact, at the rate he was running from here when we saw him, I doubt he'll even be nearby to find out." 

Angel tried not to show his pleasure at hearing Buffy's lack of concern over her 'boyfriend.'Ex-boyfriend, from the sound of it.And it must have been going downhill since before his and Riley's little showdown if everyone else knew about it."So, when does this 'ruse' start?" he asked. 

Buffy yawned suddenly."How about tomorrow." She looked at her watch."Never mind, today...at a normal hour after I've gotten some sleep." 

"Sounds good," NutMeg grinned. It was the kind of grin her sister called the *mischief grin.* The playful goddess was plotting again. "Now, the rest of us have to remember to act like it's real, and that we're all completely thrilled with the idea. The more obnoxiously sweet and sappy the whole thing looks, the more it'll drive Kirshana nuts." 

"I'll just be leaving then before you make me all sick," Spike muttered and quickly left Giles' apartment.That seemed to be everyone's cue to leave, and Buffy's friends began to trickle out of the house.Finally all that were left was Cordelia, Wesley, and Angel - who didn't have anywhere to go, Buffy - thinking, Cynamin and NutMeg - plotting, and Giles - who, after all, lived there. 

"Well, I'm going to bed," Giles said with a yawn. "This has been a...busy evening." 

"'Night Giles," Buffy waved. She and Angel were on the couch, talking quietly. Supposedly planning for the next day's big scheme, though NutMeg and Cynamin could tell that wasn't completely the truth. They both looked too happy and cozy on the couch. Cordelia pulled a cot out of Giles' closet, and Wesley took a pillow and blanket and curled up on the floor. The two Goddesses, forgotten for the moment, just watched the two on the couch interact. 

*Our work here may be done for us,* NutMeg said to her sister. 

Cynamin was smiling. *And by Buffy and Angel, and it was Buffy's idea! I told you they were really still in love!* 

*I didn't doubt you,* the blonde goddess chuckled. *Or them.* 

Suddenly both Buffy and Angel were aware that they were the center of the two goddesses attention.They pulled slightly away from each other, and Buffy met Cynamin and NutMeg's gaze."I have to ask," she said after a moment, "but what exactly did you see that made you come here and... I mean, there must be far more important things in the dimensions or whatever than..." 

Cynamin and NutMeg looked at each other briefly."It's not exactly my place to tell you," Cynamin said after a moment. 

Buffy looked like she was about to get angry again, but Angel put a hand on her shoulder. "I think I know." He looked up at them for confirmation. 

Both goddesses nodded. He knew. 

"Then tell me," Buffy turned to look at him. 

Angel swallowed hard before starting, and pulled away from her as if afraid of her reaction."It was Thanksgiving..." he began, then stopped abruptly. 

Cynamin nodded in reassurance that this was indeed what they were thinking of.She stood, pulling up her sister with her.As much as she wanted to see what he was going to say, she knew they needed to be alone."We'll see both of you tomorrow," she said gently, and the two goddesses disappeared. 

"Well that was weird," Buffy muttered.She looked at Angel again."Thanksgiving?" she prompted."When you were here or I was in L.A?" 

The vampire shifted uncomfortably. "When you were in LA. We...you were there longer than you thought." 

Buffy was extremely confused. "More than five minutes? Angel, what happened? If it caused *Goddesses* to fight over us getting back together, than I think I have a right to know why." 

Angel sighed."There's a whole other day that happened...but didn't happen... You don't remember.You're not supposed to," he began."You do remember the demon that attacked us, but in that other day it got away.So we tracked it together." 

Buffy did not speak, but listened attentively.If the situation had been slightly different, she would have thought he was crazy.This whole week had been crazy, though, and the actions of the goddesses was enough to convince her he was telling the truth,She said nothing. 

"We split up; you went above ground and I went in the sewers," he said slowly.He was staring at his hands."I found the demon, fought it... It slashed my hand and when I went to kill it some of its blood got into the cut...mixed with my own."He razed his gaze and looked at Buffy again."It made me human," he whispered. 

The Slayer gasped slightly, looking into Angel's eyes like she didn't want to believe him, but did. Clearly he wasn't human now. "What did we do?" she asked. 

Angel smiled sadly. "We went back to my place, to talk. But...that didn't last long." 

Buffy let out a nervous giggle."I'll bet it didn't," she said."So...we were happy?" 

"Yeah," Angel agreed with a nod."We spent the rest of the day together...until we finally fell asleep.That was until Doyle woke me later to tell me that the demon wasn't dead." 

"And you went to fight it by yourself," Buffy said knowingly. 

"How..." 

"Please.I know you," Buffy said simply."That was a really stupid move, you know.You could have gotten yourself killed." 

"I know," Angel replied."I almost did." 

"But you didn't obviously," the blonde smiled. "Unless you were changed into a vampire *again,* or something twisted like that." 

"No, nothing like that," Angel shook his head. 

"Then what?" Buffy asked. 

Angel sighed."You rescued me and killed the demon.As it died, it screamed about the 'end of days,' so I went to see the Oracles." 

"The who?" Buffy asked quickly. 

"Spokesmen for the Powers That Be," Angel explained."I asked them about the end of days.They told me you would die.I couldn't let that happen, and there wasn't anything I could do to stop it.So I asked them to make me a vampire again." 

"You what?!" Buffy stared at him uncomprehending. "How could you?" she whispered furiously, trying not to wake up the sleeping people in the house. 

"That's what you said then too," Angel sighed. "And I explained. And then, I told you that they were going to take back the last twenty-four hours. I would be the only one to remember it. None of it would ever have happened." 

"Oh god," Buffy whispered. 

"So time reversed...and I killed the demon when it broke in just like you remember." 

Silence greeted the end of Angel's explanation.The only sound in the room was Buffy's breathing. 

"Buffy?" he asked gently, waiting for her reaction. 

"I don't know whether to be furious with you or start crying," she said at last. 

"You'd be within your rights to do both...or worse," Angel replied, taking her in his arms. "I don't think anyone would blame you for staking me for this." 

Buffy relaxed in his embrace."I wouldn't stake you," she whispered."I could never stake you.I can be mad at you, I can be upset...but it's the sort of thing you would do.You're too...noble.You need to be selfish on occasion.I love you anyway." 

"You do?" Angel asked in surprise. 

"Of course I do," Buffy replied."Did you ever doubt it?" 

"I...it's just..." Angel floundered."I love you, too," he whispered back finally. 

Buffy sighed and leaned into his chest.Suddenly she tensed and Angel looked at her in concern. 

"What is it?" 

"It's just..." Buffy began in a strangled voice."How much of...that day...did they *see*?" 

## Part Nine 

_Sunnydale, California _

_Wonderful place for walks in the park _

_Just avoid the cemeteries at night _

Buffy and Angel walked through the cemetery the next evening, hand in hand, and often mouth to mouth. Thanks to their little conversation the night before, they didn't need to do much in the way of *acting.* The extra sappiness they through in for emphasis was kind of fun. 

The two goddesses had refused to divulge anything of what they had seen, claiming it was against some rule. After Angel told Buffy the details of their time in his bed, Buffy just thanked the Powers that the goddesses were discreet. 

The night was very quiet, especially in contrast to the night before.She used to love nights like this, patrolling with Angel.If there wasn't some great evil to fight often they'd not gotten much patrolling done at all. Buffy sighed softly. 

"What is it?" Angel asked, giving her hand a squeeze. 

"I missed this," she began."I'm happy..." 

"But?" Angel prompted. 

Buffy laughed slightly."You know me too well," she said."What *are* we going to do?" 

"Well," Angel smiled. "We could make out here under the moon and hope no one finds us." 

"That's not what I meant," she swatted him playfully. 

"I know," Angel acknowledged. 

"I mean...you and me.All the reasons you left are still there," Buffy said slowly. 

"But were they good reasons?" Angel asked. "I've wondered that ever since I left. I'm not so sure anymore." 

Buffy shuffled her feet in the cemetery dirt for a moment."Maybe.I don't know.But you have a business in L.A. now.And the curse...is definitely still an issue." 

"We'll figure out something," Angel said calmly."We have to." 

Buffy looked up at him, then quickly changed the subject. "We really should do something to get her to appear," she said quietly. 

Angel smiled, then knocked her to the ground, kissing her fiercely before she could respond. *How do you like this Dark Goddess?* Then he couldn't think...he was too absorbed in the kiss. 

Buffy was returning it eagerly as well.It was like they'd gone back in time 2 years, before they knew about the curse.It had been so delightful then, kissing on patrol, seeing Angel in the evenings... She'd almost forgotten how perfect it could be. 

"Maybe..." Buffy managed between kisses, "they have some sort of...idea...since they were trying so hard...to get us back together." 

"Maybe," Angel replied. "We'll....have to....ask them." 

"Stop this!" 

Shocked, the two stopped and looked up. Standing above them was an irate and disgusted looking goddess in black. 

"Enough of this disgusting mush!" she snapped. "It's so...sappy!" 

Buffy couldn't help but grin at her."Do you mind?" she said."We were kind of having a private moment."She grabbed Angel to give him another kiss. 

"That is enough!" the goddess yelled. 

Angel pulled away, but kept looking at Buffy."We don't want to piss off the goddess,," he said, his eyes twinkling."Did you want something?" 

"How did this happen?" she demanded. 

Angel shrugged. "Haven't you ever heard of true love? There's even a saying about it." 

Buffy giggled and kissed Angel again, making Kirshana glow red ...literally. 

"Stop it!" she yelled, sounding oddly like a spoiled child who hadn't gotten her way. 

Suddenly her two sisters appeared next to them.Each was dressed in the white apparel that they had first arrived in Sunnydale in."Is there a problem, Ginger?" NutMeg asked with an obvious smirk. 

"Don't call me that!" Kirshana wailed. 

NutMeg just grinned wider. "You lose, sis. Why don't you just go home and leave these nice people alone." She did her best to ignore the dagger-sharp glare being sent in her direction. 

"You can't expect me to give up this easily," Kirshana hissed."And this town...I love it here.So much darkness and chaos.But you...and you two," she glared at the sisters and Buffy and Angel, "you just had to keep getting in the way." 

Buffy stood then and faced her levelly."Give up," she said strongly."Hell didn't tear us apart.Neither have various vampires and demons.You can't expect to win where they have failed." 

"Well spoken." Cynamin smiled calmly at her sister."She has you there, I believe.What did you expect when you came here against us?" 

Kirshana smiled."Fun.Like the good old days.And it has been fun, hasn't it?" 

"That it has," Cynamin agreed."You will be leaving now, correct?" 

Kirshana looked around at the group that was forming, for all of the Scooby gang had been within hearing distance. "You can't think you'll be able to *prove* I did any of these things. No one at home will listen." 

"Oh no?" NutMeg grinned, holding up a tape player. "Cynamin and a few of us overheard you. She hit play, and what was clearly Kirshana's voice came on. The other goddess looked at the little thing in horror. "And don't think you can just smash this and get away," NutMeg switched it off. "I've already put a copy in several hands back home." 

Kirshana licked her lips nervously."Listen," she said calmly."How about I cut you a deal?" 

"What sort of deal?" Cynamin asked suspiciously. 

"You don't tell anyone back home about my interference in these goings on, and I won't tell anyone about anything you've don to interfere...or choose to do here before you return home." 

"And how do we know we can trust you?" NutMeg queried. "You *are* the one who used to make my toys disappear after promising not to bother me anymore." 

"I...I'll cast the spell right now. The one you want." Kirshana was obviously nervous. "Just... don't tell anyone about all of this." 

NutMeg looked at her less hostile sister. *Is she promising to do what I think she is?* 

Cynamin looked back at her.*She can be true to her word when it suits her.*She looked back at Kirshana."Why are you doing this?Why offer this?" she asked. 

"We all got into a heap of trouble the last time we interfered in the dimensions," Kirshana said firmly."But I got into more trouble than you.' 

"That's because you started it," NutMeg retorted. 

Kirshana just shot her a cold glare."Yes.It is because I started it."She looked at Cynamin and couldn't help but grin."Let's just say I'd rather lose gracefully and get the chance to defeat you in the next round than be grounded for eternity.So do we have a deal?" 

"Deal," Cynamin replied. "But you have to do the spell now, and promise *never* to undo it. 

Kirshana nodded. "Fine." With that she stood back, gathered herself up, took a deep breath, and wiggled her fingers. "There, done. Now I'm out of here while I'm still free to do so." With that, she vanished. 

"I don't get it," Xander looked confused. "What did she do?" 

"She made Angel human," NutMeg replied nonchalantly. 

The entire group turned their attention on Angel and Buffy.Angel was still sitting on the ground, his eyes wide and a small half smile on his face.He was quite obviously breathing. 

Buffy dropped on her knees to the ground beside him, and Angel flashed her a brilliant grin.Buffy let out a little, unintelligible cry, her hands fluttering around him as if she was afraid to touch him and find out it wasn't real.Finally she pressed her hand to his chest.She met his gaze and smiled broadly as she felt the movement of his chest with breath and beneath that a heartbeat. 

Angel laughed in delight and caught her in a sudden, passionate kiss. 

***** 

_Sunnydale, California _

_One you come, you'll never want to leave _

_That's because you can't _

Cynamin smiled at the scene before her and her sister as they said their goodbyes. Her favorite image was that of Angel and Buffy snuggled close together. They both had things to work out, but they definitely looked happy. Especially now that Angel was human. He was even more handsome in daylight, if that was possible. 

*I wonder what the writer's are going to do next week,* NutMeg spoke into her mind. 

*Who knows,* Cynamin smiled. *But they can't undo what's been done. They'll just have to live with it.* 

NutMeg grinned.*You know, this wasn't such a bad idea after all,* she said. *Coming here.* 

Cynamin couldn't help but smile back.*It wasn't, was it?* 

Standing hand in hand, Buffy and Angel were the last to give their goodbyes to the sister goddesses."Thank you," Buffy said sincerely. 

"Don't thank us," Cynamin said back."We didn't do anything.You managed this all by yourselves." 

"Well, except the spell part," NutMeg piped up."Kirshana actually did that." 

Angel was still smiling and seemed a bit hesitant to speak."Speaking of the spell...?" 

"Yes?" Cynamin asked quickly. 

He looked uncomfortable."You know, the same reasons that I gave this up the last time are still there." 

"Are they?" NutMeg grinned. "We said you're human. We *never* said you were a *weak* mortal, or that there were any dire prophesies that came along with this little gift did we?" 

"Well, no," Angel said pensively, obviously thinking that little statement over. 

"Just for once, Angel," Cynamin said gently, "Let things work themselves out.You have a lot of friends here, whether they'll admit they are or not, who will help you." 

"So no doing anything stupid," Buffy hissed in his ear. 

Angel had to chuckle at that. 

"We should probably get going," Cynamin sighed. "And hope that Kirshana hasn't said anything that will get *us* in trouble!" 

Buffy looked at her for a moment, as if pondering something. "Can I ask a favor?" 

"Of course," the goddess replied. 

"Stop spying on my intimate moments. Just...change channels or something." 

NutMeg giggled as Cynamin blushed. 

"I'm...just going to get out of here before I embarrass myself further," she muttered.NutMeg's giggles changed into outright laughter. 

With a wave of goodbye, both goddesses vanished in twin flashes of light that were almost entirely for show. 

Buffy smiled up at Angel and leaned against him even more. "So do we thank them, or have Will create an anti-goddess protection spell?" 

"I think you'd have to make it big enough to cover the planet," the now-human replied, gazing down into her deep green eyes. "Personally, I'll thank them every night for the rest of my life." 

***** 

_Interdimensional Something-or-other _

_Home to more than a few super powers _

_You can only imagine the sibling rivalry _

Cynamin and NutMeg stood in their home moments later, looking at each other with matching grins.They were *way* too proud of themselves. 

"We did good," NutMeg said after a moment. 

"Yeah, we did." 

"Do you think we'll have a hard time keeping what we did from the Elders?" 

Cynamin shrugged."As long as Kirshana keeps her mouth shut, I don't see any problem." 

"But do you really think she'll keep her yap shut?" 

"It's not a *yap,*" came a voice from nowhere. Kirshana appeared beside them. "And I value my freedom too much to go telling the Elders about some silly little scheme you two cooked up to make the world obnoxiously sappy and perfect. I'd get in trouble for following you down there in the first place instead of reporting you!" 

"Following us?!" NutMeg said quickly."The how were your vampires all ready to attack us when we arrived?" 

Kirshana grinned knowingly."I have my ways." 

NutMeg was about to retort when she noticed that Cynamin was sneaking out of the room. "Where are you going?" 

The other goddess grinned. "Buffy's on!" 

NutMeg smiled slightly, and for once she and Kirshana had something to agree about."Some things never change do they?" 

Kirshana laughed lightly."Never," she said, and the three of them went back to watching their favorite dimension. 


End file.
